Another year and another circuit of Motorhead gigs, this time at Newport Centre, South Wales, on the second night of their current UK tour, the trio led their troops through another head-splitting set of the dirtiest Rock ‘n’ Roll imaginable – all with the amps up to ‘11’!
There is always something special about Motorhead gigs. As yet I haven’t decided for myself what it is. Whether it’s the massive devotion of the fans, the ear-bleeding volume that they like to play at, or if it’s just that unique feeling that you get at the gigs. You know, that feeling that you’ve jumped back in time and you’re partying with Vikings. Whatever feeling you might get, I knew this one was going to be big. With the addition of Punk and Rock veterans, “The Damned” and “Girlschool” on the bill, it upped the ante even more than usual.
A stack of Marshall amps and massive Motorhead “Motorizer” backdrop could just about be made out in the dark as the packed crowd waited for the legends to take to the stage. To a hero’s welcome, Lemmy, dressed in usual black ensemble, cavalry hat, cowboy boots, and gang swagger onstage ready to unleash hell with a full set of classics. The trio waste no time in heading straight into the action. The band sound tight as Filthy Phil Campbell strides up to front of stage addressing the crowd with a sound that is utterly brutal, foot on monitor, owning the first 15 rows of the crowd and turning them into a sea of flying bodies as the band rip through at breakneck speed.
Lemmy’s banter with the crowd between tracks keeps everyone hungry for more as he delivers each comment with his trademark growl. We get a blast of “Just Because You Got the Power, Doesn’t Mean You Got the Right”. The lyrics just getting through the mix – “Everything Louder than Everything Else” indeed! The crowd having the time of their lives, headbanging, pogo-ing, air guitar-ing and punching the devil salutes into the air in time with the heavy riffs.
Two of the highlights for me in the set was not only the stunning drum solo which saw Lemmy and Phil leave the stage while Mikkey Dee’s long blonde hair and enormous arms turn to a blur as he thundered around his drum kit, finishing off by throwing his sticks up into the lighting rig and catching them again! If that wasn’t enough, “Killed by Death” blew everyone away, so much that I get goose bumps from just hearing it. Launching into those immortal opening lines, “If you squeeze my Lizard, I’ll put my snake on you.” Lemmy's growling bass tone, surely one of the most recognisable in rock and “Murder One”, his modified 100-watt Marshall Super Bass head, playing no small part in this equation, as does his ever-present Rickenbacker. With the stage shrouded in an eerie fog, it all makes for an awesome performance and the crowd are rocking hard.
“Going to Brazil” is also superb and both Lemmy and Phil look like they’re having a good time. Next up “Bomber” to close the show. Of course, for those not familiar with Motorhead, we’re reminded that, “this is the part where we pretend to go offstage – then you all shout and we come back out”. And with that we’re plunged into darkness.
On their return to the stage, Mikkey Dee takes a break from the drums to play guitar, well he does eventually, after a minor cock up from the tech crew in handing out the wrong guitar. Someone’s tour cut short that night perhaps? After one or two attempts to get the sound right we’re hit with the introduction of “Whorehouse Blues” which, as the title suggests, is a very bluesy number. Although not so much on this occasion, where it’s given a sort of “stomp” kind of feel with great guitar from Campbell and Dee with Lemmy centre stage on harmonica.
The last two songs in the Motorhead set list are usually always reserved for “Ace of Spades” and “Overkill”. “Ace of Spades” is a classic and gets the biggest crowd response, over the years it has remained the bands signature song, now featuring the slight lyric change whereby the line “I don’t wanna live forever – but apparently I am” now replaces the old “Don’t forget the joker”. It gets everyone fired up and the masses of heads are all in some degree of headbanging. Even the over 60’s.
Lastly is “Overkill”, which is performed with a mass of strobe lighting, and as songs go, it pack one hell of a punch! If anyone doesn’t know the song, and from the look of many younger faces in the crowd, many didn’t, the song has three parts, each going faster than the last. The lyrics climax to the mighty “'Rock 'n' Roll ain't worth the name if it don't make you f***!'" then its over, after bowing to the exhausted crowd, the legends finally left the stage to the sound of some reverberating amp feedback, and with enough decibels to last us a lifetime, and our ears roaring and necks aching, we headed home, totally convinced by Lemmy’s mantra that “We are Motorhead and we play Rock ‘N’ Roll!!”
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