What follows is a short review of the Motorhead concert for Friday, March 11 at the Palladium in Worcester Massachusetts. Don't read on if you hate spoilers!
This was my first show at the Palladium so I suppose should start with a brief description of the venue. This club is a converted 1930's style theater complete with a balcony, gilding around the stage and on the ceiling, and tiffany style recessed lighting. However, the seats have all been removed and everything is dark, dingy and battered, really the perfect atmosphere for a rock club.
I arrived with a freind about 10 minutes before the start of opener's Corrosion of Conformity's set. We positioned ourselves on the landing just above the mosh pit, and had a pretty unobstructed view of both it and the stage. I had never heard CoC before, and found that they definitely had the energy and chops to warm up the crowd for Lemmy and co. Good stuff.
Motorhead took the stage around 11:15 to a wildly enthusiatic crowd. With a brief introduction by Lemmy that "We are Motorhead. We play rock and roll!" they tore into Dr. Rock (off of the Orgasmatron record). I was instantly impressed by just how much Lemmy and the band love to perform. Between sets of sometimes just a song or two, Lemmy would address the crowd and share some insights about the songs, in his trademark humourous bluntness. "This is from our most hated record. It cost us years of development. It's called Another Perfect Day, and there's a couple of good songs on it, this one's called...I Got Mine."
The bulk of the show was older songs off of the albums 1916 or earlier. Dr. Rock, Love me Like a Reptile, Overkill, Iron Fist, Killed by Death, Just Cos you got the Power that don't mean you got the right, Ace of Spades, I got mine, and others were complemented by only a handful of newer tracks like Sacrifice, and three off of the new record Inferno: "Killers", "In the Name of Tragedy" and "Whorehouse blues".
The show had a very spontaneous feel to it, due to a couple of factors. This was just the second show on the tour, and the band was totally fresh and just obviously pumped to be back on the road. Also there were a couple of minor technicl difficulties that the band dealt with with total ease but kept them on their toes. For instance at the start of the show Lemmy's mike stand wouldn't stay high enough, so Lemmy introduced the tech to the crowd as he made the necesary adjustments. Another example: the "death metal" vocal effect didn't kick in in the chorus of Killed by death, and Lem totally rolled with it yelling "******" with a big smile and improvising with the classic guttural chorus we all know and love.
All in all this was just about the best show I've seen by any artist in the past 5 years. I encourage any Motorhead fan to get out there and catch a show if you can.
