The Stooges – Live At Goose Lake: August 8th, 1970
(Third Man Records)
Reviewed by Rob Harbers.
On August 8th, 1970 The Stooges appeared at the Goose Lake Festival, in front of 200,000 fans. Stories of the show have been the stuff of myth and legend ever since, but now, thanks to the finding of a box of tapes in a Michigan basement, Third Man Records are throwing light into the dark corners. Given that this is also the only known soundboard recording of the original line-up, including bassist Dave Alexander (more on him later) and is a run through of the imminent Funhouse album, this find represents a Rosetta Stone for Stooges cognoscenti.
So, down to the details, and some separation of myth and reality. The principal legend of this performance has it that Dave Alexander didn’t play a note during the performance, for a number of speculated-on reasons, such as over-indulgence (Alexander eventually became one of the lesser-known members of the 27 Club, dying of pancreatitis resulting from alcoholism) or stage fright from the prospect of playing in front of such a huge audience, or a combination of these. However, here that myth is put to bed. Yes, there are certainly times at which it sounds like the band he’s in is playing different tunes, and also times where he seems to be absent. But there are also the songs, such as “Dirt”, for one, where he makes a solid contribution, giving no cause for complaint. So score a 50/50 for this legend – but whichever way you cut it Mr Osterberg was nonplussed enough to demand Alexander be sacked from the band, which some say was the start of his decline.
Another of the mythical tales has it that Iggy incited the crowd to riot. We can call this one disproven – the closest that anything gets to a riot is the lyrics of “Down In The Street” (“No walls, No walls”) which did, it’s true, cause a visit from the police who heard these words as inviting the audience to tear down the stage barriers. Also in the apocrypha is the story that the plug was pulled abruptly on the performance, but this seems to be a conflation of the tight 45-minute set limit imposed on all the festival’s performers, which coupled with the rotating stage allowed for instant turn-around between acts – a revolution at the time which drew the approval of audience and performers alike.
Overall, then, this represents both an interesting historical document of “The big show that hardly anyone outside Michigan knew about” (given some of the other names on the bill, it’s tempting to speculate on what other treasures may have been found in the basement) and a snapshot of the final appearance of the founding Stooges lineup. It’s been said that this was the beginning of the end of the band, and this forms a worthy addition to the canon – one that will surely be treasured by fans.
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