In the Mix

Where does Iggy Pop rank among the greatest of rock and roll front men? Let's have that discussion another day. The Stooges comeback album, The Weirdness, is a sorry disappointment, with Iggy's studio reunion with Ron and Scott Asheton not generating, shall we say, quite as much raw power as might have been hoped.

But the band's closing show at Stubbs' outdoor barbecue on Saturday was an entirely different story. With the eyes of Texas upon him, the shirtless Iggy, who turns 60 next month, was in robust voice and as much of a primal force on stage - and in the crowd - as he's ever been. With the Ashetons augmented by bassist Mike Watt and a saxophonist, the legends created a mighty wall of sound for a frenzied crowd as stoked for the moment as the band obviously was.

Iggy howled like a wild man on a whole bunch of early 1970s Stooges nuggets - like "I Wanna Be Your Dog," "TV Eye" and "Fun House" - that take catharctic glee in exploring the darker side of human nature. Besides the Stooges, who will play the Electric Factory on April 11, I saw a couple of other perfectly good bands earlier in the evening - tap dancing indie optimists Tilly & the Wall and local Austin heroes Spoon. Both were in fine form, but they seemed small in comparison to the returning proto-punk monsters who ate up everything that was left of SXSW.