The Metal Files

We are Motörhead and we don’t have no class!

As many of my lovely readers may have heard from my previous post or via Blabbermouth, yesterday (March 8, 2011) was declared Motörhead Day in Austin, TX by our mayor.  Read yesterday’s post to get the precursor for this one.

I got off work and rushed home to get things together for potentially meeting Motörhead before their show.  I’m waiting on Dave and his son in front of Stubb’s and see awesome photog Jay West.  I tell him what’s going on and said I’d try to get him back there with us to get a photo of those guys with the Motörhead Day Proclamation (click for photo).  Dave and his son walk up and I send a message to my pal who works security for Motörhead.  He finds us outside and escorts to the “backstage” area of Stubb’s where Lemmy, Mikkey and some of the crew were hanging out.  This was right after their soundcheck.

Lemmy’s sitting at the door flipping through a food magazine and Mikkey stands up to greet us.  Phil was nowhere to be found, unfortunately.  Mikkey reads it then Dave tells me to give it to Lemmy for a read.  I explained what it was and he sat and read the whole thing.  He stood up and said something like, “This is neat.  I love playing Austin.  Thank you very much”  We shake hands and Jay snaps a few quick photos.  I mentioned to Lemmy about meeting him after the movie premier last year and mentioned my Another Perfect Day tattoo backpiece.  He said, “Ah yes, I told you that you should have picked a better album, right?”  haha.  “Yes sir, you did.”  Lemmy seemed tired and later that evening during the set, Phil mentioned on mic that he wasn’t feeling well, so Phil did much of the talking between songs.  Also, if you’ve seen the movie, read interviews or ever met Lemmy, he’s pretty much indifferent about stuff like this, but it was great that he and Mikkey allowed us to come back for a few minutes and share our joy with them.  Added bonus for me was getting Lemmy and Mikkey’s signatures in my book.  FINALLY!

So that was that.  Mikkey gave Dave’s son, Kameron, a can of Coca-Cola as we were leaving and he says, “I’m never opening this can…ever.”  Awesome.   I understand that sentiment as I still have an unopened bottle Heineken that Nicko McBrain signed for me in 1988.

Good times.  All of us were elated after this.  It was fun and glad that it all worked out for all of us.  I ran the book home and went to dinner with some friends.  I had no interest in seeing Valient Thorr again or in seeing Clutch.  I got back to the venue with about 4 Clutch songs left.  BORING.  I hadn’t listened to them in years and remembered why last night.  Oh well.  It was Motörhead Day and all I cared about was seeing Lemmy and the boys tear it up like they always do.

They hit the stage right at 9PM.  Lemmy opens by saying, “We’re Motörhead…and we play rock and roll.”  Then they go

Photo by Jay West

right into a great version of We Are Motörhead.  Great song to open with!  The band was tight throughout the whole show.  Phil was more animated than I had seen in the last few shows.  Lemmy’s tone and playing were awesome.  He’s very unique.  If you’ve seen the Lemmy movie DVD there’s a bonus section in there about how he plays his bass.  He’s usually playing power chords and it just gives his sound that much more grind.  At 60+, the man can still kick ass.  His voice sounded better than last year as well.  Then there’s Mikkey.  All you see is hair and hands and cymbals moving.  He was awesome as always.  Easily in my top 5 drummers of all time.  Motörhead rules live, period.

The highlight of their set for me was I Got Mine.  It’s from my favorite Motörhead album and it’s just a great song.  Of course they closed the main part of their set with Ace of Spades and Overkill was the encore.

Metal Dave from 2Fast2Die said before they went on, “What a crusty looking crowd.”  Definitely.  Motörhead draws folks from a lot of different crowds.  They are also one of the bands where it seems to be ok to wear their shirts when you go see them live.  It’s always been stated (right or wrong, silly really) that you shouldn’t wear the shirt for the band you are going to see.  Motörhead and Maiden seem to be exceptions to that rule.  I saw some nice vintage shirts there as well.

It was a great show and I’m glad it sold out.  Lem’s not getting any younger and no telling when his juice is going to run out…hopefully never!  Go see this tour!

There was one major thing missing…Their front of house sound engineer Hobbs! Where was he?  Talk about a crusty old bastard.  He rules!

Setlist as I remember it and a bit out of order:

1. We Are Motörhead
2. Stay Clean
3. Get Back In Line
4. Metropolis
5. I Got Mine
6. Over The Top
7. The Chase Is Better Than The Catch
8. Rock Out
9. I Know How to Die
10. In The Name of Tragedy
11. Just Cos You Got The Power
12. Killed By Death
13. Going To Brazil
14. Ace of Spades
15. Overkill

All photos below by Jay West Photography.  Click to enlarge.

Kameron, Dave, Lemmy, me, Mikkey (holding Motorhead Day Proclamation)

Phil and Lemmy

Lemmy and his signature Rickenbacker 4004LK Bass.

Lemmy

Phil Campbell