The Michigan Theater

This article was originally posted on freep.com. Apr 20, 2011, by: Steve Byrne.

Iggy & the Stooges had at least one famous fan in the audience Tuesday night as the band played a tribute show for its late guitarist Ron Asheton.

Jason Segel, who is in Ann Arbor prepping for the upcoming shoot of the romantic comedy “Five Year Engagement,” stopped just around the corner from the Michigan Theater after the show to talk about the serendipitous circumstances that led to him catching a performance by one of his favorite groups.

“Iggy is one of my musical heroes,” said Segel, one of the stars of the CBS sitcom “How I Met Your Mother,” and a go-to comedic actor in movies like “I Love You, Man” and “Forgetting Sarah Marshall.”

“Five Year Engagement” is still in the location-scouting stage for principal photography, and Segel said he was just walking around Ann Arbor when he noticed the marquee for Tuesday’s show, which acted as both a Stooges concert and a memoriam for Asheton, the band’s founding guitarist who died of a heart attack in 2009.

Segel managed to get into the event — it had sold out months ago — and said he was blown away by the luck that allowed him to catch a favorite group in its hometown. It was his first time seeing the Stooges, a band that many consider the forefather of punk rock.

“It was one of the best concerts I’ve seen in my life,” said Segel of the show, which saw Iggy, drummer Scott Asheton, guitarist James Williamson, bassist Mike Watt and a number of guests sear through a plethora of guttural and energetic Stooges mainstays.

Twice during the show — including during the closing “No Fun” — Iggy invited the audience to join him on the relatively tight Michigan Theater stage. Dozens, if not hundreds, obliged, making for a few messy yet fittingly Stooge-y moments. Segel said he was particularly impressed by these episodes of “contained chaos.”

It could have been a bad scene with all those people on stage, Segel said, but the crashers “really showed their respect” for the musicians by leaving them essentially unscathed.