Motorhead are the aural equivalent of a toxic mix of amphetemine and amyl nitrate snorted not shot up. A rush of energy from an old man on a steady bottle of bourbon a day diet and a cowboy hat.
Imagine what you think a Motorhead concert is like, that is what it was Saturday night at MSG: a fast, raging riffarama, played with topmost energy. So, I loved it, right? No, and it wasn't Motorhead's fault: the set wasn't loud enough. Going to see Motorhead when Lemmy isn't loud enough, is like watching SHO soft porn. It can get you hard but it can't get you off.
The set was everything you could ask for except I'd hoped he'd have thrown in "Ramones". Two killer tracks off Ace Of Spades and terrific straight up no chaser "Going To Brazil", a distant Lemmy who peers out over his hat to tell us he wants to hear us shout our esophoagus farting through our throat. But, cmon, what we want from Motorhead is what we get, a band whose pace is faster, fastest.
The band has been together in the current configuration since 1992 when Mickey Dee joined pm drums. Phil Campbell rounds out the trio, he has played rhythm guitar with the band since 1984…knocking on 30 years. And that explains a lot,. It explains how relentless the sound is, how they seem to be a more groove than a rock band. They hit it and roll it song after song, and the audience, approve mightily.
So do I, besides a drum solo that really doesn't need to be there. And besides a too short set at 45 minutes. I could have sat through double that.
But the really problem was the volume. If you don't get tetinus after a Motorhead set, or at least ringing in the ears, why did you go? This is a highly professional rock and roll animals who did their part, and we were rock and roll albums and we did our part. But I was in the 200s and half the audience weren't standing. How is that possible.
Turn the fucking volume up.
Grade: B+