Live-Metal.Net - Concerts: Motorhead

"We want to be the band that if we moved in next door
to you, your lawn would die."
-Lemmy

So are the words of wisdom of one Ian "Lemmy" Killmeister, lead vocalist and bassist for the legendary band Motorhead. Motorhead is celebrating their 30th anniversary in the music biz and in that time they've survived lineup changes, record label issues, disco, new wave, punk, about four boy band crazes, the Macarena, grunge, hip-hop and nu-metal, always remaining true to their sound, fans and image. Lemmy, the only constant in the band's 30-year run, wears every one of his 60 years but still remains an iconic figure in rock and roll, and the band is still capable of kicking some ass. In fact, they may be as good now as they've ever been. And while they are much bigger over in Europe than they are here, to quote another Lemmy-ism, "We don't have many fans here in America, but the ones we do have would kill for us, and that's the way it should be." touche. I had the opportunity to catch Motorhead at L.A.'s House of Blues, a small club and certainly the way to see this band. The band is doing a short club tour before they release another new album, which will surely be followed by another tour. So here then is what went down at the House of Blues last night...

It was quite a diverse crowd that showed up. I arrived early and was greeted by a dude that wanted me to give him $6 to help him get a ticket. He would ask me this about seven more times. There were also two chicks who asked if me and my cohorts in line would help contribute to the "beer fund" to which I naturally replied, "Mine or yours?" Then there were the four dudes that showed up in a limo, looking like they just got kicked out of Good Charlotte. We also had a mix of frat guys, mohawks, dudes in leather jackets, and some beefy Glenn Danzig wannabe motherfuckers who made me reconsider going in the pit. Life's too short and i'm almost 30, ya know? And I cannot neglect to mention the guy who was dressed in a getup that could best be described as Heinrich Himmler meets Rob Halford. He's either a flaming homo or he has bodies buried in his crawlspace.

Our first band was the mostly-girl act Meldrum (the drummer is a guy), who came out to the Unsolved Mysteries theme. I'm not sure if i would have sex with any of the ladies, though the singer has some DD's and the bassist was wearing a cheerleader outfit. They're not too bad, kinda like a more melodic L7. The most notable things about their set were when they pulled a move straight out of L7's playbook and offered any dude in the crowd to "take them home," and their final two songs, the first, co-written with Lemmy, was their best of the night. They concluded with the obligatory cover of "Walk." I'm not sure the singer knew all the words to the song as she forgot the second verse. All in all, not bad.

In between the sets, the PA played both Slayer's "Angel of Death" and Metallica's "Blackened" and you could tell who the real metal fans were by who got into BOTH songs.

The warm-up for Motorhead was a band called Manntis, and about all I can say about them is that they were loud. Not much else, mostly generic growling/distortion without the hint of rhythm, melody, or even competent playing. I sound like a music critic now. They also made a big mistake by coming onstage and demanding people start moshing. Respect is earned pal.

After a LONG wait, we got Lemmy! If you need a barometer of how cool Motorhead is, let me lead you to two examples, 1) Lemmy, committing 3 fashion faux pas by wearing a button down shirt with the collar up, pants so tight I thought they were Robin Hood tights, AND tucking said pants into boots, and somehow still pulling it off. Why ? Cause he's Lemmy. 2) Drummer Mikkey D. wearing a Motorhead shirt while playing in Motorhead. What's that rule that applies of never wearing the shirt of the band you're gonna go see? How does that apply when you're IN the band? And yet, its Motorhead, they can get away with it.

Anyway, the guys played about and 1 hour-30-45 minutes and cramming in 20 songs.
Some of the highlights were:

- Lemmy announcing the 4th song of the evening as "Metropolis," then being reminded by guitarist Phil Campbell that "Killers" (from the Inferno album) was the fourth song.

- The two songs they did from the Inferno album ("Killers" and "In The Name Of Tragedy") were very good. The new stuff stands up very well with the older material.

- The reaction of the moshers when the band broke into "No Class" (from Overkill). Glad to see its not just my favorite Motorhead jam.

- Finally seeing why "Metropolis" was such a live favorite for so many years. It's way better than its studio counterpart.

- That they broke out two songs ("I Got Mine" and "Dancing On Your Grave") from the much maligned Another Perfect Day record, which Lemmy jokingly onstage called "our least popular album."

- The song "R.A.M.O.N.E.S" which Lemmy dedicated to the three deceased members of that band. I'd never heard that song before (it's an older song but i don't have the album its on, 1916. Now i see why they said on that song that Motorhead out-Ramoned the Ramones.

- The extended version of "Sacrifice." The song that proves Motorhead can do speed metal too. In the middle of it, Mikkey D. did a sick drum solo before Lemmy and Phil re-emerged and finished the song.

- Motorhead doing a politically inspired tune (although its an older song as well), "Just Cos You Got The Power," Probably the slowest jam of the night but a cool song, like a heavier version of U2's "Bullet The Blue Sky."

- The band was joined on "Killed By Death" by the lead singer of Meldrum and she seemed to enjoy rubbing herself on Lemmy. Lemmy had a long on his face like he couldn't believe what was happening but at the same time with a little smirk that said "I'm 60, I got two huge warts on my face and I could STILL shag this gal if I wanted."

- Motorhead goes acoustic! For only one song, and thankfully it wasn't a ballad, but a blues-inspried tune called, what else, "Whorehouse Blues."

- "Ace Of Spades" gets the moshers into a frenzy of course. Lemmy introduced it by saying something like, "Here's one you may know."

- "Overkill" is the finale, announced by Lemmy like this:
Lemmy: "This is our last song."
(crowd gives an "aww")
Lemmy: "Gimme a break now, I am 60 years old after all."

All told, it was a great show as Motorhead pulled out some surprises, mixed in old and new material, and played to the crowd much more than I'd heard they did. While Lemmy's banter with the crowd wasn't anything earth shattering, you could clearly tell he was having
fun and the audience was too his liking. Iif by any chance you can see these guys in a club, by all means, go, you won't be disappointed.