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Motorhead
w/ Morbid Angel |
House of Blues Anaheim
5/18/02 Review by Phil Dis.
“Ozzy
may be the Godfather of Metal, but Lemmy is God!” – Texas Terri (Texas
Terri and the Stiff Ones)
I’m a vermin He’s a vermin She’s a vermin
We’re the 
vermin wouldn’t you like to be a vermin too? Motorhead graced the stage
for one incredible night at Anaheim’s House of Blues on Saturday May 18th,
2002 touring in support of their latest release “Hammered.” It’s
always amazing to see some of the creatures that crawl out from under a
rock when Motorhead comes to town. Believe me, you wouldn’t want
to meet up with a pack of Motorhead’s most hardcore fans in a dark alley.
We’re talking potential serial killer
types here. I got the confirmation for press and photo passes via
e-mail at 6:15 P.M. the day of the show from Motorhead publicist Carol
Phillips who also set-up an interview I was 
supposed to do at 6:30 P.M. that night. As punishment for not checking
my e-mail until that late I missed my opportunity to do an interview I’ve
been begging Carol to set-up for me for over a year now. Sooner or
later in this lifetime I’m gonna interview this band for antiMUSIC, I swear!
There were three opening bands for this
show and I missed the first two. I got there in time to catch Morbid
Angel’s performance though. I’ve never been a big Morbid Angel fan
but nonetheless they do have a HUGE, and very devoted following of
fans that I would have to say most definitely contributed to the vermin
factor. Musically? Morbid Angel can be described as 
the three R’s. Relentless, Repetitive, and Redundant. But their
fans really like it.
I got past the bouncers and was allowed
into the photo pit where I secured my position in front of the center of
the stage and tested out my camera and zoom on different areas of
the stage where I thought I might be able to get some good pictures from.
Motorhead’s crew worked fast and efficiently getting Morbid Angel’s gear
off the stage and setting up Motorhead’s stuff. The curtains at the
front of the stage were left open giving the crowd a glimpse into the inner
workings of all that’s involved in order for Motorhead to put on their 
show.
The energy level was very high in anticipation
for Motorhead to take the stage and start the show. After the crew
finished setting up Motorhead’s equipment the stage lights dimmed and the
noise level went up in response. But it was a false alarm.
A voice came over the PA and said “Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the
House of Blues. For your safety moshing, thrashing, and crowd
surfing are not allowed in the venue, and I forget the rest of the spiel
but as far as I’m concerned House of Blues can mosh, thrash, and crowd
surf theez nutz!
A few short minutes after that, Motorhead
appeared and was greeted by the crowd going hysterical. Lemmy
was so appreciative of the adoration from the fans that he could hardly
keep a straight face as he 
casually approached the microphone and told the crowd “We are Motorhead,
and we’re gonna clean your clock!” The energy level tripled at that
moment and the band wasted no time in tearing into “We Are Motorhead.”
Motorhead rocked harder, faster, and louder than I’ve ever seen them do
before this night.
Motorhead played a great mix of old Motorhead,
newer Motorhead, and lots of material from the new album “Hammered.”
Mikkey Dee did an amazing drum solo and I have to agree with what Lemmy
keeps saying in his introduction of Mikkey to the audience about Mikkey
being the best drummer in the world. I’ve never seen any drummer
play that hard for two straight hours. 
Mikkey is definitely dedicated to putting on a great show. Phil also
did a short but sweet guitar solo that showed-off his six string ability
to the crowd.
Motorhead didn’t move next door to my house
but they did play in Anaheim on this night, and when I got home to Long
Beach at three in the morning...MY LAWN WAS DEAD!
Photos by Phil Dis. Copyright
2002 Iconoclast Entertainment Group and Phil Dis - All Rights Reserved.
Phil Dis is a contributing
writer for antiMUSIC and the iconoFAN Network.
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