Motorhead, Saxon & Danko Jones

10 Nov 2008

After a long busy day I decided rather than go through early and queue I’d go through a bit later and just walk in (I hoped) and get a place where I could reasonably see the artists. I arrived after 20:00 and was able to walk to the venue but it was very busy. I made my way to the area just above the mixing desks and got myself a reasonable view.

After a short wait the crowd started chanting for Saxon so I asked the person next to me what happened to Danko Jones and FFS I’d missed him. Great start, but not to worry I’d listened to at least one of his albums (which I can’t remember anything about) and I wasn’t impressed.

For me Saxon were first up. I’m not that familiar with most of their back catalogue so I didn’t know many of their songs but some did strike a chord like “Motorcycle Man”, “747 (Strangers in the Night)” and “Heavy Metal Thunder”. There are only two surviving members of the band which is no surprise since they were formed in 1977. I was surprised that their music was a fresh as many of the bands around today and it certainly brought back some great memories of the days when the NWOBHM was at its strongest. They also mentioned their new album “Into the Labyrinth” due out next year to be followed by a tour which I’ll bear in mind. Overall a very competent set.

After witnessing a childish “you spilt my pint” altercation between two drunken idiots it was time for Motorhead. You may wonder why I went to this gig when I repeat that I’m not that familiar with most of their back catalogue so I didn’t know many of their songs but hell you got to start somewhere. But as before, some of their songs did strike a chord like “Overkill”, “Metropolis” and of course the well known “Ace of Spades”. Again it’s worth bearing in mind that the band was formed in 1975 although only Lemmy remains as the sole founder member. It was great to see Lemmy still banging out the songs at 62 and still showing a passion for what he does best. The things that I liked about the songs are that they are short, sweet and to the point, no long guitar solos etc. There were of course the obligatory drum and guitar solos but as far as I’m concerned were unnecessary although they didn’t spoil what was a great set.

Next up Keane in January 2010 at the Arena.