27/11/2009 Motörhead, Girlschool & The Damned @ Hammersmith Odeön

Subject	Motörhead, Girlschool & The Damned @ Hammersmith Odeon
PostedDate	11/27/2009
	Another gig I've been looking forward to for months, and definitely one of the best bills of the year. Unfortunately I miss most of Girlschool's set as they have to go on stupidly early.  They were quality as usual though, and I'm really glad I saw Lemmy join them for a run through 'Please Don't Touch'. It's great to see Girlschool on tour with Motörhead again - particularly at Hammersmith Odeon! Yes - Hammersmith Odeon. Never heard of that Apollo place The Damned are great fun!  I was wondering if Lemmy might join The Damned for a song or two as well, and he was in the band briefly back in the day - it wasn't to be though. I'm sure Lemmy was particularly pleased to have both Girlschool and The Damned supporting on this tour though. There might only be two original members in the band these days, but they still play like they mean it - much more so than the Sex Pistols these days even with their original lineup. The Captain does most of the talking, and talks mostly bollocks as usual - but that's what you expect! The Damned have a rich back catalogue to choose from, and many of the 'classics' feature in the set, along with some more recent stuff. Obviously they don't have time to play all the classics, but I think they do a good job in the time they have. Motörhead deliver the goods as they always do. Unusually, they haven't put an album out since they toured a year ago so they are still calling this the 'Motörizer' tour. It looks like a new album is in the pipeline for 2010 though. Like the previous two bands tonight, the setlist is largely made up of the classics - but most Motörhead fans wouldn't have it any other way. I think after a few years now the acoustic 'Whorehouse Blues' section is getting rather tired and predictable though. It's good to see Würzel guesting for a song or two. A goodly proportion of my favourites get an airing, although of course there just isn't time for all of them. The setlist spans pretty much all stages of the band's career, although Motörhead have now released so many albums that there just isn't time to play one song from every album. To be honest it's not the best Motörhead show I've seen, and Lemmy is less talkative between songs than usual - although he has such a commanding stage presence that he doesn't need to say much anyway. That said, it's still a good night - apart from the usual horrors of the bar and toilets in this overcrowded venue. Same time next year then?