Like Christmas adverts starting on the tele, the dark nights coming in and the clocks going back there are a number of certainties at this time of the year.
One is that Motorhead will be on tour. In fact, they tour with such regularity at this time of the year, that for a while, I thought the Movember charity was in praise of them.
And so it is that RTM finds itself at the Wolverhampton Civic Hall for the fourth year running for a date with Lemmy and the lads.
Motorhead crowds are always a fairly weird mix. There’s the old rockers, the people who go because they think Lemmy is “cool,” the kids who got into the band recently, and the punks. Motorhead were always the rock band it was ok for the Punks to like, and the mohawks are out in force this evening, largely because of the support acts this year.
After the UK Subs start things off (we miss most of their set thanks to traffic chaos) before Anti Nowhere League take over.
Not being the greatest aficionado of punk rock it’s hard for me to judge them, but “So What” gets a moshpit pogo-ing, “Woman” is spat out by lead singer Animal, and “The Streets of London” does posses a certain charm. If horrible, sneering, 3 minute punk songs are your thing then no doubt there was much to enjoy, and the forty minute set, which ends with “We Are The League” was rapturously received by around half of the audience.
Like re-runs of Only Fools and Horses, the thing with Motorhead is that even though you know what’s coming it still enjoyable. And really any set that starts with “Bomber” ends with “Overkill” and contains “Killed By Death” in between is better than your average evening.
Lemmy is the focal point, of course, but drummer Mickkey Dee and guitarist Phil Campbell are both superb foils, and as always the musicianship can’t be faulted. This is the most settled Motorhead line up ever and it really shows.
The band’s recent renaissance (tonight is packed out yet again) is mirrored by the last three albums they have released being uniformly superb. It is a pity that they only play a handful of songs from them, because tracks like “Get Back In Line” from last years “The World is Yours,” “One Night Stand” from 2006’s “Kiss of Death” and “Rock Out” from 2008’s “Motorizer” stand up with anything from the past. But the crowd wants to hear “Ace Of Spades” – and seeing how many left after it, it really is a good job they played it second from the end.
And that really is all you can say. Motorhead are a fantastic band, unique in many ways, and they do exactly what they are expected to. You can’t argue with them. They are Motorhead, and they, as Lemmy always says, play rock and roll.
Same time next year, boys?
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