22/11/2008 Motörhead @ Hammersmith Odeon

Subject	Motörhead @ Hammersmith Odeon
PostedDate	11/22/2008
	I always look forward to seeing the legendary Motörhead - it's almost a religious experience, or the nearest I get to one anyway. And they are playing at Hammersmith Odeon - their spiritual home. Saxon are supporting. Again. But I'm far more excited by the fact that Danko Jones is opening the show.  So excited in fact, that I listen to the 'Sleep Is The Enemy' album three times in the afternoon to get in the mood for the show. Which makes it all the more amazingly stupid that I am so disorganized and untogether that I don't arrive at the show in time to see them.  I hate myself sometimes.  I need some sort of 'personal manager' or something to kick my arse into gear as I seem totally incapable of doing it for myself at times. As Led Zeppelin so aptly put it 'Nobody's fault but mine'... So when I arrive at Hammersmith Odeon (yes I know) I am not in the best of moods. And in spite of the doors supposedly opening an hour ago there is still a queue outside! So I finally get into the venue to find myself treated like cattle by the staff. I'm in plenty of time to see Saxon. Again. Well it's 'Saxon' in the same way that the current version of Guns 'N' Roses is 'Guns 'N' Roses'. I guess Biff and whoever can make an album in less than 15 years though. 'Saxon' aren't rubbish or anything, and they do play two or three songs I know and like, but I'm soon bored. Time to head to the bar. I go upstairs to get a drink hoping it will be easier at the long bar than at the smaller ones downstairs. It's still four or five deep and the bar upstairs.  I want a piss after spending well over an hour on the tube - there is a long queue for the gents - it's actually quicker to go back downstairs and fight my way through the crowd to the toilet to the left of the stage. Back upstairs I find nothing I particularly want to drink at the bar when I eventually get to the front - sound familiar?  I settle for a pint of Guinness in a floppy plastic glass. It's nearly £4.  I decide I won't bother spending any more money at the bar - I'll just go without - it won't kill me, and I'll avoid having to battle my way to the toilet so often. By this time I've been in the venue for an hour or so, and haven't enjoyed a minute of it. Rock 'n' roll isn't supposed to be like this - paying £30 for a ticket to be herded around like cattle and treated like shit - then being ripped off at the bar and expected to queue for fifteen minutes when you're bursting for a piss. Usually shit sound quality. £20 for a T-shirt when you know they could sell them for a fiver and still make a profit. Fuck off! I've seen Motörhead nearly every time they've played in London in the past 15 years or so, but now I'm so pissed of with the whole large corporate venue experience that I'm seriously wondering if I can be bothered with all this shit anymore.  I have a much better time at the smaller club shows in Camden and the West End - I get to meet my friends and it's often only a fiver or so to get in and see about four bands in a better atmosphere and usually better sound quality. I know there are plenty of people I know at this gig, but in the 5000 plus crowd I don't meet anyone I know. By the time Motörhead come on I am questioning if it is really still worth coming to these large shows? As soon as they start playing I know it was worth the trip. Motörhead always deliver the goods, and tonight is no exception - but although the band are great, I am still starting to question whether it's really still worth the price of the ticket just to see them play for an hour and a half (probably a bit less) and put up with all the other shit which pisses me off so much tonight.  Motörhead as ever do exactly what it says on the tin - they are very loud, they sound like only they can sound, and they play most of the songs I want to hear - that's all you can ever realistically expect. They give good value for money. Lemmy is a legend - no question. His stage presence is amazing - he doesn't have to do much, but he owns that stage and commands your attention. He also strikes a chord with many members of the audience when he makes a point of calling the venue Hammersmith Odeon and says that what it will always be called to many of us.  Motörhead's setlist spans the band's career as well as you can reasonably expect for an outfit with so many albums under their belt. Some albums get passed over, but some weren't so good so fair enough. You know you are always going to get 'Ace Of Spades', 'Overkill', and usually 'Bomber' and 'Killed By Death'  - but the rest of the bill is usually changed about for each tour with some songs not heard for many years given an airing. There were only a couple of songs from the new 'Motorizor' album, but to me it's not a classic album and has only a couple of decent songs - which were the ones they played. As with AC/DC, and (more justifiably) Metallica their latest labum has been hailed as the 'best for years' and 'a return to form' (ever heard this before? Yes - I thought so) but really it is just another Motörhead album -  like 'Black Ice' is just another AC/DC album. 'Motörizor' is hardly better than the previous 'Kiss Of Death' in my opinion, and 'Inferno' is the best Motörhead album of recent years. I think history will prove me right... Anyway, I can't fault Motörhead's performance - and Wurzel makes a welcome appearance to guest on guitar for the classic 'Bomber'! Short of having the ultimate stage prop the 'Bomber' itself make an appearance this is enough to make this show special for me - and after many things pissing me off I do eventually go home satisfied.