Unfortunately we missed the first half of Girlschool’s set due to the lateness of our departure from base. I have heard some of their studio stuff and I must say I haven’t been all that impressed. Now having seen them live, I have changed my opinion. They really know how to get the crowd moving and play some pretty good tunes too! I even recognised some of the tracks, ‘Hit & Run’ I remember from way back, ‘Emergency’ from the 1981 ‘St. Valentine’s Day Massacre’ EP with Motörhead has always been a classic and they closed the show with ‘Race With the Devil’, a track I always liked, but hadn’t realised it was Girlschool who recorded it! A great show from the entire band, they put a lot of energy into their performance and it showed!
My score: 8/10
Official site: http://www.girlschool.co.uk/
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The Damned are: Captain Sensible (Guitar/Vocals), Pinch (Drums), Cave Vanian (Vocals), Stu West (Bass) & Monty Oxymoron (Keyboards)
I haven’t seen The Damned live before, but, having been into Punk a long time ago I am pretty familiar with quite a lot of their early stuff. They opened with ‘New Rose’ a loud bawdy number that got the crowd moving. It was quite funny watching the people around me in the crowd, there were several bemused faces, but also quite a few singing along & I guess, like me, quietly reminiscing the late 70’s & early 80’s. There were several tracks I didn’t recognise, but I didn’t mind, they were OK, but not the classics I wanted to hear. The band then surprised me and played two tracks from my favourite Damned album, ‘The Black Album’. It was really great to hear ‘Curtain Call’ and ‘History of the World Part 1’, both of which are a bit avant-garde and a bit of a departure from the more raucous numbers. Towards the end of the set the better known tracks, ‘Neat Neat Neat’, ‘Eloise’, ‘Love Song’ and finally the classic ‘Smash it Up’ closed the show… Well, almost closed the show… Captain Sensible attempted a solo performance of ‘Happy Talk’ as they left the stage and had to be ‘assisted’ off by one of the road crew! Although I’m not sure they were for everyone at a Motörhead show, I quite enjoyed The Damned. Even after all these years both Captain Sensible and Dave Vanian still know how to put on a good show!
My score: 8/10
Official site: http://www.officialdamned.com/
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MOTÖRHEAD:
Motörhead are: Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister (lead vocals and bass guitar), Phil Campbell (guitar and backing vocals) & Mikkey Dee (drums and percussion)
By the time Motörhead hit the stage the place was pretty full. Lemmy announced “We are Motörhead… and we play Rock and Roll!” and they opened up with a couple of classics of which ‘Over the Top’ was best received. With the usual appearance of ‘Metropolis’ I was nearly tempted to go in search of a T-shirt, but endured this dirge of a track, I don’t know why they always play it! I’m pretty glad I stayed because they soon redeemed themselves with ‘Killed by Death’, one of my all-time favourite Motörhead tunes! The set was littered with classics; the likes of ‘Stay Clean’, ‘I Got Mine’ and ‘Just cos You Got the Power’ were all well received. A smattering of new tracks also put in an appearance along with a cover of a Twisted Sister track whose title, I’m afraid, escapes me right now. Of course, at the end of the set we got the classics ‘Bomber’, ‘Ace of Spades’ and they ended with ‘Overkill’. Over all a really good show from the boys, I really enjoyed it. Towards the end I finally broke for the merchandise stand & got a T-shirt. I then watched the end of the show from the back, which gave me the advantage of being able to see, and I could also hear the music properly.
My only complaints are that the venue, when full, is not very condusive to being able to see the stage, particularly if, like me, you’re only 5 feet 7 inches tall! Secondly, don’t get me wrong, I like loud music, but when it’s so loud it is distorted to the extent that it doesn’t sound like music any more, then it’s not too enjoyable. It was only when I stood at the back towards the end that I could see most of the stage and I could actually hear the band. Over all, a pretty enjoyable show, slightly ruined by a venue that didn’t make it easy to see and an over-enthusiastic sound engineer.
My score: 7.5/10
Official site: http://www.imotorhead.com/
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