Roseland Ballroom, NYC
Sept 20th, 2008
by Morgan Y. Evans and Megan Thomas
LINKS:
Motorhead and it’s road ruling founder Lemmy Kilmister are nothing short of an institution, so it’s no mystery that their concerts, even to this day with Lemmy nearing his mid-60’s, are still an unstoppable wrecking machine leaving strewn bodies, grins missing teeth and debauchery in their louder-than-everything-else wake. New York City, at heart beneath the veneer of modern years, still has enough whiskey rockers and true blood drinkers to ensure that a Motorhead show at Roseland is something not to be missed. Boy, were they out in force on this Saturday night, representing a huge cross-section of all the people Lemmy’s music has influenced over the years…and most of them scary characters!
Motorhead rolled into town headlining this year's Volcom Tour in support of their new record Motorizer. A burly engine of pure Motorhead, it is a fitting addition to the bands catalogue; not a huge departure of course, but more top-notch balls-kicking rock’n’roll. Released on August 26th, Motorhead broke their own sales record, still unable to be stopped despite all the trials they’ve steered through the past few decades. Coming off the killer Metal Masters tour with Testament, Judas Priest and Heaven and Hell, it’s been a great year for Lemmy and Co.
The “Misfits” (and I use that term very lightly) were supposed
to co-headline but I guess pussed out, hopefully realizing they would
have been blown off stage. The current line up of the Misfits is with
the very cool Dez Cadena from Black Flag and the not-as-cool Jerry Only
of the original, only real Glenn Danzig fronted band. I don’t mind
this line up as much since it is more like old-timers having a fun cover
session than the abomination of Michale Graves Danzig impersonations in
the ‘90’s. Not to knock Jerry Only too hard, as I was in a
Misfits tribute band called Wolfsblood and, like Jerry, was the bassist.
He is responsible for some of the funnest moments in my life playing his
bass lines, though I think I was picked for bass because my Devil-lock
back then was balding in the same way as Jerry’s thin one does on
the sides. It’s just as well that they didn’t show up and
get it handed to them by Lemmy, Phil and Mikkey.
Daniel Davies of Year Long Disaster
As it was, the night was nothing short of pure debauchery for me as I think I was drugged or something. I have a very high liquor tolerance as anyone who has read my live reviews can surmise, and am quite used to reviewing shows accurately yet well into a bottle of Jameson or whatever. I don’t do hard drugs since I was twenty-one and rarely even smoke weed. I had eaten plenty and only had a few shots and a well drink and a beer, which is really not much for me. One theory among Crusher staff is that it might have been something weird in the infused vodka drinks at the Russian Vodka bar adjacent to Roseland. The bartenders there were very hot and so I am not mad if it was somehow their fault, but there are huge holes in my memory of the night, lots of my money unaccounted for and various friends telling me I was way out of character, speaking in a much higher voice than usual and trying to fight people! In fact, I’d like to apologize formally to the bachlorette party from Long Island I encountered on the street after the show was over. Apparently I ran up to this girl in her tiara and screamed at her that it was never going to last and she should stop kidding herself. I don’t usually do shit like that and am lucky I didn’t get romper-stomped with a bunch of high heels embedded in my skull! Sorry, pink dress girl! By the time I sobered up later I could tell something weird chemically was going on in my system because I used to shoot up fucking speedballs when I was seventeen, ok! Perhaps Motorhead dosed me like Lemmy and his old Hawkwind buddies used to do to crowds in the psychedelic days!
Valient Himself of Valient Thorr
Anyway, having run into my ex-girlfriend Megan at the show, who remembers some of the parts that I don’t very well, I have enlisted her to help me with this piece. So, again, thanks for enjoying yet another unorthodox live review from me and it’ll all make sense by the end! At least it fittingly was at a Motorhead show! When I drink that much these days I sing Thin Lizzy loudly and am happy, not mean. Speaking of which, the last bit of prelude to the “real” part of this concert review is a side note that Motorhead COVERED a Thin Lizzy song, “Rosalie” and I didn’t see it. Apparently I was outside for a bunch of their set, news to me, but missing that will haunt me for the rest of my life as it is personally meaningful. I feel like committing suicide when I think about it. Crap!!!
Anyway, the openers were Volcom bands Valient Thorr, who are fast, maniacal
and blazingly distempered, and Year Long Disaster. Some band called ASG
filled the slot vacated by Australia’s pretty fuckin’ sweet
Airbourne, but I don’t know about them and …didn’t see
them. Year Long Disaster was alright, from the parts I recall. They are
probably better than alright as their records are pretty cool, but they
are more shuffle than scruff and not nearly a match for Valient or England’s
finest ear bleeders. Still, I don’t wanna come across as too hard
on them ‘cuz they are a pretty decent band.
Triple H introducing Motorhead
While there were countless Motorhead diehards in attendance, some true poseurs or just plain air headed bimbos were there as well. Wrestler Triple H (who is not a poseur) introduced Motorhead, since a newer Motorhead tune “Rock Out” is used on WWE’s pay per view “Unforgiven” show. When Triple H took the stage and flexed his massive pythons, one of three girls in front of Megan asked another if Triple H was Lemmy! They were also overheard to say that it is a shame AC/DC are all dead, whereupon Megan snapped and informed them that was funny as she has tickets to see them in November. The girls insisted that she was wrong and that Robert Plant was in AC/DC but now he is dead. Wow. I’m Speechless.
Some set highlights besides the Thin Lizzy cover included (some of which I am told) ““Just ‘Cos You Got The Power (That Don’t Mean You Got the Right)”, “Rock Out” and even Lemmy on Harmonica for “Whorehouse Blues”. I was in the room for that one as I remember them vaguely switching to acoustic. Thankfully I have a clear impression of the whole crowd erupting for “Ace Of Spades” in the encore and got to hear and remember “Overkill” which besides the sadly absent (I think) “Death Or Glory” just might be my favorite Motorhead song ever. The fake endings and Mikkey’s wrecking ball drumming were great. I think they also played “Stay Clean” earlier in the night but am not sure. Josh Styles, drummer of NYC band Stalkers, informed me in a lucid moment after the show that they didn’t play “Lost Johnny” but that it was an amazing concert.
At one point I heard Lemmy mention that Mikkey Dee is “the best drummer in the world”, which is basically fact, and if disputable to some whiners, he has played not only excellently in Motorhead for years but on King Diamond’s Abigail which is the best metal album ever in history, just about…besides Bastards by Motorhead, which is more rock’n’roll, I guess. Other good Lemmy quotes include (after making the crowd scream), "This is dedicated to everyone who made a noise. It's called “Over The Top”, and my favorite "It's not so fun to be cool. It's more fun to be fucking lunatic." (not "a fucking lunatic"). Thanks Megan for compiling those last ones.
