Fast and furious. That's the description from many who saw Motörhead at the Mayhem Festival at Susquehanna Bank Centre in Camden NJ.
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This review is from the show 7/21/2012 at the First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre by Jim Ryan - Chicago at Night.
For the third time in the past year and a half, I was lucky enough to see Motörhead. The band hasn't done a summer tour of the U.S. since 1998, so this was a rare opportunity to catch them outdoors. Following the release of their twentieth studio album The Wörld Is Yours in early 2011, they've pretty much toured nonstop and as a result they are firing on all cylinders right now.
Pics lifted from:
Perhaps it was the sense of urgency dictated by their abbreviated set, but Motörhead tore through their performance with reckless abandon.
As my left ear continues to remind me several days after the show, I was standing at the corner of the stage nearest guitarist Phil Campbell, directly across from his main amp... an amp so loud that I could not hear drummer Mikkey Dee despite his playing about fifteen feet from me.
I could feel that playing... but I couldn't hear it. I also could barely hear Lemmy save for his always entertaining between song banter. Phil had some sound issues briefly during the set but they were taken care of quickly and never lingered.
Lemmy is always careful to refer to Motörhead as a rock 'n' roll band as opposed to a metal band. If you've ever seen the Lemmy documentary, then you know what a huge fan of Little Richard he is. And that love of old rock finally hit me in the back of the head on Saturday (well, more that aforementioned left ear I suppose).
Campbell's guitar drowned out everything else and hearing those licks and riffs isolated from the rest of the band, you can really hear that old rock influence in both the songwriting and Campbell's guitar playing. It's most obvious on "Going to Brazil."
Mikkey Dee stepped up for his solo following "The Chase is Better Than the Catch" and as per the usual it was stellar. Dee pounds the skins in a fairly relentless manner that keeps you engaged as opposed to headed for the beer line. Lemmy stirred up the pit as Motörhead closed with a murderer's row of "Killed by Death," "Ace of Spades" and "Overkill."
For the full review: ChicagoNow
Ace ♠
