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October 31, 1979 – HALLOWEEN!
IGGY / THE CRAMPS @ The Palladium, NYC
From my concert diary:
My pal Lori’s band The Student Teachers were the opening act!
Iggy was NUTS! He played songs from Soldier and some Stooges stuff. So GREAT. Elliot took a Quaalude and was spaced out. Ha – and Mom thinks I am safe in the city with him. Went to Christopher Street after and there was a trans parade! Our favorite was a ‘lady’ dragging a doll by the hair, yelling at it, and throwing it in front of cars (Mommie Dearest). All the ‘girls’ looked amazing!
Great costumes in the city! One nut was being driven around in a limo, waving out the top dressed as the Pope! There were groups dressed as the Village People. Me & Elliot went to Club 57 (Irving Plaza) – they were showing the best clips of monster movies & everyone was screaming and making shadow puppets on the screen with their hands. The Misfits played ‘Teenagers from Space’ and ‘Rat Fink’. Hundreds of orange balloons came down with Night of the Living Dead buttons attached to them Left there at 2:30 am and went to Roseland for the Rocky Horror party.
I found these cool photos of Iggy from that night by Gary Van Miert…
The Cramps were amazing, as usual!! Bryan Gregory was ½ man, ½ pony – he even had hooves! (I later learned that he was replicating Nijinsky’s costume from Afternoon of a Faun). Ivy had rubber snakes in her hair and Lux was insane.
Hooded men in long brown robes preceded the band onstage, waving lanterns of incense in total darkness, enveloping the whole stage in smoke and releasing live mice or rats???!!! Lux cradled a rat in his hand and he sang to it! I think it was dead, and therefore could not appreciate Lux’s serenade!
I recently heard from someone who said that Bryan got dressed at his apartment for this gig! He glued the fur directly onto his lower body using Elmer’s glue – wearing no underwear or anything else. The hot lights onstage melted the glue, and the movement of his guitar pushed the fur down his legs, leaving him practically naked as the set went on. Nobody minded, and neither did he. His playing on ‘Lonesome Town’ that night was astounding.
Photo by François Bernardi
Also see my review of another amazing Halloween concert in 1977 :
I was 16 and at this show. I used to buy balcony tickets to save $ and then sneak down the stairs that opened in the alley – then walk into the orchestra. lol. That’s how I got backstage and to the basement party for the Clash London Calling show. lol Can you imagine the blue collar security guards going home to their families and trying to explain what they witnessed at this Cramps/Iggy show?! It scared me. lol
Howawesome that you were there! Great strategy buying balcony tickets. I would always buy orchestra seats and run down to the front row.
We did the same at theClash show! We got cheap tickets, but went super early and hung out with the big bouncer named Sugar Bear. We got him high and he gave us preferential treatment. Then we left just before the second encore and went to the alley backstage door. We waited until the door finally opened and Joe Strummer said- “Yeah you first five, c’mon up!”. I’m guessing you might have been with us too?
I was backstage at several Clash shows – following Joe’s instructions to follow him. Probably was in a room with you at some point or another!