MOTORHEAD, Anthrax @Wolverhampton Civic Hall 5/11/12

Say what you like about Motorhead, but you can’t accuse them of playing safe when it comes to support acts. In recent years these Autumn jaunts have seen bands of the calibre of Saxon, Michael Monroe and The Damned open up, however this year Lemmy and the lads have given themselves perhaps their biggest challenge yet.

Anthrax – yes that’s Anthrax – you know, one of the Big Four thrash bands, one of the best metal bands in the world, and one who lets be honest about this, is having something of a renaissance, are going to come out right before the old stagers tonight.

RTM saw the New Yorker’s stunning show in Oxford in March, thus hopes were high for this slot at a venue that seems to lend itself to magnificent concerts. However large expectations were, though, they don’t quite prepare us for what actually did take place.

Quite simply, Anthrax were, this evening, unstoppable. The setlist they chose for their 50-minute jaunt? How about one that starts with “Caught In A Mosh” then moves into “Fight Em Till You Can’t,” takes in “Indians,”  “Time” and a few other classics before tearing Wolves to pieces with “I Am The Law”? Not too shabby huh? In short, Anthrax were phenomenal and they – and moreover the assembled gathering – know it.

In fact, so good were Scott Ian and his mates, that even a Motorhead that was seriously on top of its game would have struggled to live with them. The fact is that on this particular evening Motorhead were not as good as ever.

That is not to say they were bad by any means, merely that this is the first date of the tour and it is clear that there are some teething problems to iron out.

It starts well enough “No Regrets,” “Damage Case” and “I Know How To Die” would grace any show, but some essential spark is missing. The synchronised dancing of “Metropolis” and a rollicking “One Night Stand” are fantastic as always, but there is a rather tetchy undercurrent throughout. Things come to a head in Mickey Dee’s drum solo during “One To Sing The Blues.” The sticksman had been upset with his kit at the start of the song, and at the end of it he leaps off his stool and argues with his technician.

The encore is another rather odd affair, the band play “Orgasmatron” bathed in green light before the usual strobe filled ending in “Bomber” although pointedly and perhaps in keeping with a rather low-key beginning, there is no making the balcony stand for this track this time, as has been the case in previous years.

So, what to make of this evening? Well Motorhead are and will always remain one of the greatest bands this country has produced. It was just that this evening saw one band give a slightly off colour show, while another absolutely ripped the place apart.

MOTORHEAD, Anti Nowhere League @Wolverhampton Civic Hall 2/11/11

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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