Motörhead – Brixton Academy 2006

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There are very few known quantities in music. Status Quo are one of them. You know they’re never going to do anything different to the last 430 years. And Motörhead are one of the others. Like Quo they are never going to change. The difference between Motörhead and Status Quo however is that Motörhead still consistently produce good albums. In fact, Motörhead haven’t made a bad album. Ever. Not bad for a 31 year career.

Like their albums, their live shows are consistent in every way. That’s not to say the setlist is always the same (although in recent years there have been mainstay songs), for example one year they opened with Ace of Spades, instead of closing with it. Once decided though, the setlist tends to remain identical for a whole tour. Small details like setlist variation apart, Motörhead’s shows are also consistently good. Flawless, in fact.

They’re not a flashy band. There’s no running about, no props, no costumes, no extravagant stage sets. Just the usual lighting and three guys playing the hell out of their songs. They’ve all been doing it long enough now not to make mistakes, even on the new ones (of which there are three in the current setlist) and have such a following that they don’t actually need to employ flashy gimmicks in order to get the crowd on their side. Everyone in attendance at a Motörhead show knows exactly what they’re getting and that’s exactly what they want. There’s no one to win over, no one to impress, and Lemmy and co. wouldn’t care if there was.

The London stop of a Motörhead tour is always a special occasion. Every year the band will play one of two venues; Hammersmith Apollo (which always has a certain air of nostalgia about it after the amazingly successful No Sleep ‘Til Hammersmith live album recorded there 25 years ago) or Brixton Academy, which has been home to many memorable London gigs over the years, and two live albums of its own, recorded in 1987 and and at Motörhead’s 25th Anniversary show in 2000. This year Brixton played host, and was near enough sold out. Main tour support Clutch even enjoyed a nearly full crowd.

The set for the current Motörhead tour obviously includes a few new songs from their new album Kiss of Death, plus a couple from 2004’s Inferno and then mostly older classics. In fact, the newest song apart from those is eleven years old. It’s the older stuff that seems to keep the majority of the fans happy though, which is a constant point of contention for many who don’t like to see the band’s more recent material getting forgotten in the name of songs that have been played to death for 30 years (Lemmy included). Many things remained the same from the last couple of tours; drummer Mikkey Dee still enjoyed a solo half way through Sacrifice (and dropped his stick at the end), the encore still consisted of Whorehouse Blues featuring Mikkey and guitarist Phil Campbell on acoustic guitars and Lemmy on harmonica, and songs like Metropolis, Jus’ Cos You Got The Power and Killed By Death retained their spots.

They did decide, however to add a nice surprise to the regular setlist, and a second one just for London. For the whole tour a cover of Thin Lizzy’s Rosalie has been included as a tribute to deceased band leader Phil Lynott. Immediately before this, just for this show, they played a song that certainly hasn’t been played for many, many years and may not have ever been played: Snaggletooth, one of four studio bonus tracks contributed to a compilation album of early material called No Remorse (Killed By Death was another of these). The song received rapturous applause, which is surprising since it’s unlikely the majority of the people there have even heard the song before. But special changes to a setlist often have this effect.

Motörhead once again did not disappoint. They’re probably incapable of doing so, actually. The only problem they sometimes suffer with is one of sound clarity. Basically, they’re too loud. Get too close and all that can be heard clearly are Mikkey’s drums and Lemmy’s bass. Vocals and guitar are non-existent. Brixton Academy, being an older venue, has very good acoustics, and with a bit of distance between yourself and the stage it’s possible to get a very clear, full sound. Achieve this and no Motörhead fan will ever be disappointed at a Motörhead show.

“ consistent in every way ”

Setlist: Dr. Rock / Stay Clean / Be My Baby / Killers / Metropolis / Over The Top / One Night Stand / I Got Mine / In The Name of Tragedy / Sword of Glory / Snaggletooth / Rosalie / Sacrifice > Drums > Sacrifice / Jus’ Cos You Got The Power / Going To Brazil / Killed By Death / Iron Fist // Whorehouse Blues / Ace of Spades / Overkill

Photo(s): Chiaki Nozu | www.chiakinozu.com

Written by Andy Lye
More: Gigs, Heavy Metal, Motörhead