WEEKEND REVIEWS : Pop : Iggy Pop Shows the Kids a Thing or Two

Friday night’s “Rock for Choice” benefit concert at the Hollywood Palladium was designed to commemorate two female health clinic workers who were killed by an anti-abortion activist last December in Brookline, Mass. Considering the seriousness of the occasion, the concert, headlined by Offspring, was a pretty raucous affair--at least after a wobbly start.

For an evening grounded in the idea of female empowerment, it was unfortunate that the only women on the bill were those in the opening band, Woodpussy. The sextet’s sludgy clangor locked into a mildly compelling grind a few times, but for the most part, their set was meandering and monotonous despite garish outfits and “Romper Room” antics.

Throwing doughnuts at the audience one minute, then rolling around on stage the next, it was hard to tell whether they were too staged or not staged enough.

By comparison, Rancid was positively slick, charging full-throttle into its set while the audience broke into a sea of churning, flailing bodies. Although it was essentially an abbreviated version of the energetic performance they turned in at the Palladium last month, it didn’t feel like rehash. Tunes such as “Time Bomb” and “Salvation” were so compelling and the group’s presentation was so full of kid-like enthusiasm that it was hard not to get caught up in it.

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Sandwiched between Rancid and Offspring, Iggy Pop, one of punk rock’s original architects, showed up both sets of upstarts. Lean, sinewy and sporting lurid blond locks, the 48-year-old singer rampaged his way through a set comprised of classics (including “No Fun” and “I Wanna Be Your Dog”) from his 25-year career with and without the Stooges. As exhilarating as all the ranting was, “I’m Sick of You,” with its mid-tempo, vaguely twangy overtones, provided a bit of brooding breathing room.

If the crowd seemed calmer during Pop’s set than for Rancid or Offspring, it was only because Pop’s stage presence was so commanding. Between bouts of writhing and bounding around the stage, he body-slammed speaker cabinets, flung the microphone stand around and ultimately threw himself into the crowd, then returned for the only encore of the evening.

Tackling the unenviable task of following Pop, Orange County’s Offspring took the stage with the band’s current single, a cover version of the Damned’s “Smash It Up.” The audience took the sentiment to heart, erupting in a moshing flurry that spewed cups of beer and shoes among other items.

Without the studio polish that gives songs like “Self Esteem” and “Come Out and Play” their quirky punch, Offspring’s music came off as fairly typical hard-core punk with perhaps an atypical dose of melody. As rowdy as their set was, it didn’t have quite the same concentrated impact as Pop who was truly the headliner.