MOTÖRHEAD (Live)

After several performances in the ”City of Tigers” – a nickname of unknown origin, which has clung to Oslo for several years – it was definitely time for Motörhead to enter the biggest indoor scene the city has to offer, the Spektrum. Still, the 8000+ hall was nowhere near half-filled – the entire seating area was shut off – but the floor was relatively packed and the sound level was decent throughout. It was also good to see that Phil Campbell had switched his usual wool hat into a much funkier six pence, and with Lemmy in his usual gay spirits, and Mikkey Dee showing Lemmy might be right when introducing him as “the best drummer in the whole world,” everything was in order to make a very cozy evening.

The set-list was basically identical to that of the latest DVD, Stage Fright (“Shoot You in the Back” was out, “Killers” in, except that the songs were pretty much the same) so there were no big surprises at hand. It was pretty obvious, though, that there were not too many in the crowd who where familiar with the “head’s” latest studio effort, Inferno, as Lemmy had to introduce the incredible “In the Name of Tragedy” twice to get a acceptable response. A shame, really, Inferno is their best release in years, and should be owned by everyone. With this in mind, it was maybe weird that the two songs from Another Perfect Day – “I Got Mine” and “Dancing On Your Grave” – got a very good response, even Lemmy seemed to get surprised by this.

If the crowd wasn’t familiar with “In the Name …” before, they certainly are now, as that very song came out as one of the very highlights of the set, together with “Killed By Death,” “No Class,” “Iron Fist,” and a thundering version of the kick-ass track “R.A.M.O.N.E.S.” Another obvious highlight was the trio of “Metropolis,” “Over the Top,” and “No Class,” introduced by Lemmy as “three B-sides, or should I say C-sides”… British irony at its best, and three crushing tunes to go with it.

The light guy should also get kudos for the very cool, intensely bright, lightning in songs like “In the Name…” and “Overkill” –- check out the DVD to see what it looks like. However, all the technicalities weren’t that impressive. Something must have happened during the opening of “Dr. Rock,” though, as songs like “Stay Clean” and especially “Killers,” which came next in line, suffered from some technical difficulties with Campbell’s guitar. The signal seemed weak and the tech had severe problems with getting a proper guitar sound at times. The sound got better as the band played on, though, and the final half of the set was spot-on sound-wise.

This was pretty much the only major negative issue with the gig – Motörhead delivered the goods once again, and for those of you who (still) have yet to experience them on stage, there’s really no reason to wait. There are few bands in the business who go to the extent that Motörhead does to produce great performances day in and day out, and that’s for 30+ years! All hail for that.

Setlist (more or less complete)

– Dr. Rock
– Stay Clean
– Killers
– Metropolis
– Over the Top
– No Class
– I Got Mine
– In the Name of Tragedy
– Dancing On Your Grave
– R.A.M.O.N.E.S.
– Suicide
– Sacrifice
– Just Cause You’ve Got The Power…
– Going to Brazil
– Killed By Death
– Iron Fist
– Whorehouse Blues
– Ace of Spades
– Overkill