Written by:	Baz Anderson
Published:	November 20, 2009
Event:	Motörhead: UK Tour (Website)
Location:	Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham, United Kingdom
Galleries:	Motörhead - Nottingham, England, 16th November 2009 by Baz Anderson (34)

After Motörhead apparently "fell out" with the people of the main rock venue in Nottingham, they decided the city council-owned Royal Concert Hall would provide a suitable alternative. Gathering in the reception area before the show was a strange selection of people. Only Motörhead would be able to draw both extremely young accompanied by parents, and extremely old with greying hair. Upon entering the actual concert hall, everyone who had apparently purchased "standing" tickets were soon to find out that they wouldn't be standing at all with a full auditorium of seats laid out. To make it worse for this report, the venue did not even have a photo-pit. I have never seen a venue so inappropriate for a metal show.



With most people sat down in their designated seat, this being enforced by the suit-wearing security of the venue, Girlschool bounded onto the stage. Girlschool have been touring and playing a lot of festivals over the last few years, but the indoor environment is definitely best for them. However a fully seated audience who'd had all their enthusiasm drained away from them was not best for them. After each song there would be a short applause followed by silence. Unfortunate considering Girlschool are one of the most important female metal bands around, this audience did not fully appreciate the otherwise good show.



You'd either consider The Damned as great or awful on this line-up. The Damned were the very first punk band to ever release an album and single, and the very first punk band to tour the U.S.A.. Since then, the band have dabbled with gothic rock and now appear to prefer the psychedelic rock label. Dave Vanian and Captain Sensible were back to try and coax some excitement out of the audience with their widely diverse set on songs, from energetic, faster punk numbers to old style rock and roll, to even the cheesy, popish "Eloise" which saw the band reach #3 in the U.K. charts 23 years ago. By far the most diverse set of the evening and in some respects the most enjoyable. The band always have a good banter, but again it was the stale audience stuck in their seats that prevented the atmosphere from reaching anything like they deserved.



Motörhead however were the band everyone from young whippersnappers to grey old men were there to see. The audience finally all arose to their feet, although still couldn't move, and greeted Lemmy to the stage like a god. The three-piece didn't give any surprises in their song choices, and didn't make any special effort apart from apparent "best drummer in the world" Mikkey Dee's fierce drum solo. Even though the audience had risen, there could still be no movement because of the seats. This accompanied by he strict policing of the venue by the security made this one of the least metal shows you could imagine. Of course Motörhead were great, but they too sensed the audience were not in fine voice in this venue. Lemmy told the people sat on the balconies to stand up, and then after only a handful did, bellowed an intimidating "stand up!" to which a few more did. The venue killed the spirit of the show, however much Lemmy tried to persuade the audience to liven up. With such a varied audience and so many Motörhead shirts, it wouldn't have mattered what the band played to the die-hards present. Seeing Motörhead again is like visiting church for them. No one gives hard rocking heavy metal as straight and to the point as them, Motörhead are an English treasure that can't be avoided. A bluesy acoustic number, which also saw Mikkey Dee also on guitar while still playing a bass drum and hi-hat up front the stage, hymn-like "Ace Of Spades" and relentless "Overkill" closed the show. These guys probably don't know how to do anything else but rock, it was just the venue that spoiled the spirit on this evening.



A blast from the past from all three bands. A good night out.

Thanks to Ute Kromrey for the accreditation.
Written, and photos by Barry Anderson.