So yesterday I was running late for work because the piece-of-shit "C" train neglected to stop at 50th St. like it's supposed to and ended up at 59th instead. With only 15 minutes left until the hour of Noon struck, I made a quick dash down the street and literally ran for 11 blocks to get to my job in Times Square. Eventually I took a left on 52nd St. and came upon the legendary Roseland Ballroom where, in big red marquee letters read: "MOTORHEAD TONIGHT". For a moment, my crisis at being tardy stopped as I marveled at the realization that legendary metal band Motorhead were in town and performing just four blocks away from my job. At $40 to purchase a ticket, I was going to see Lemmy and Co., and tons of charged-up metalheads, tear the fucking venue apart. Truth be told, there were actually two other bands on the bill with Motorhead and Valient Thorr that I missed due to leaving my job rather late. There were D.S.L. and Year Long Disaster, two bands as part of the so-called Volcom Tour that apparently had, but who did not show up this evening for reasons unknown to me, the Misfits and Airbourne on the bill.
Once I got to Roseland, my first visit, it was packed with the usual faces I see at all metal shows in town, plus the oddball drunk, couples, the NYDM, nerds and geeks, children and parents, denim-jacketed metalheads, and a few members from metal bands and the world of wrestling. As I took my place among the sea of rabid fans, I couldn't help but marvel at the size of the concert hall - the biggest by far in all the venues I've been to - and the number of people, young and old, who were no doubt here to see Lemmy Kilmister, with facial warts and heavy-sounding bass guitar, lead the charge to glory. As the roadies for Valient Thorr were assembling the equipment, I managed to get myself pretty close to front. Once the band took the stage, it was clear that the big event was upon us and that I hadn't missed much with D.S.L. or Year Long Disaster... no offense, guys.
VALIENT THORR - These so-called aliens from Burlatia, Venus (but really from Virginia or the Carolinas) played their brand of boogie rock quite well, or at least the crowd thought so. I'm not much for gimmicky "space-alien" crap, like Lordi or GWAR, but at least these guys didn't have to wear stupid costumes to match their ludicrous stage personas. Instead, they played exactly as how a band that is opening for a legendary rock group is supposed to sound. A lot of sweat was poured, mostly onto me, by frontman Valient Himself as he grabbed the crowd's earnest attention and ran with it, coming into the crowd and leading a sing-along. (Somehow, despite receiving copious amounts of Himself's sweat, I managed to squeeze my way to the very end of the front row, at the dismay of several people nearby.) At one point, it looked like the frontman was fellating one of his guitarist - either Eidon or Voidon, I couldn't tell - as well as someone bizarre behavior that I'm sure is acceptable on Burlatia. And though I wasn't blown away by Valient Thorr's brand of "space-boogie," they were sonically together and had me moving at times, though what they were singing about I have no fucking idea. Set Grade: B
MOTORHEAD - After 33 years since their inception began over the Atlantic in 1975 and downloading all of their albums and listening to every single song from 1977's Motorhead to 2008's Motorizer, including B-sides, demos, and remixes (which, according to my iPod, would 261 songs) and watching the various music videos on VH1's "Metal Mania" show, I finally had the pleasure of experiencing my first, and hopefully not the last, Motorhead show. In a few words, I was not disappointed! A surprise guest reared his ugly face in the former of wrestler HHH, aka Hunter Hearst Helmsley, aka Paul Levesque, coming out and deliver an inspirational speech about bands, legends and gods. Apparently he was referring to Lemmy, and quite possibly this MK version of Motorhead, which included guitarist Phil Campbell and drummer Mikkey Dee.
Once the steroid-injected anteater finally vacated the stage, one of metal's great icons took the stage! It was quite possibly the most thrilling and painful evening I've experienced so far, but so worth it! Lemmy and crew took us through some new songs like "Rock Out" and "The Thousand Names of God" off their latest effort, Motorizer, and some classics including "Ace of Spades," "Overkill," and "Iron Fist." There was even an acoustic jamboree, where Lemmy put down his bass and decided to croon while Phil and Mikkey took their places with guitars in hand. As the band neared the end of their set, more and more people pushed forward, nearly crushing me; but the energy level never dropped, even when I had several drunken, sweaty dudes yelling in my ear about some nonsense that I couldn't decipher. But everyone, including yours truly, left quite happy - much to the band's satisfaction, no doubt. Set Grade: A-
AFTER THE SHOW - Literally a flood of people made their way out of the Roseland, chatting and smoking amongst each other and relating their tales of the evening. I, of course, remained alone so as not to get distracted once the performers came out. As I waited, I spoke with God Forbid bassist John Outcalt, who I first met at their show with Death Angel at BB King, and his girlfriend Pamela. We had a friendly exchange of words and John even mentioned that GF were currently mixing the next album. If I were a God Forbid fan, I would be excited, but alas... I'm not, so I wasn't. I told John of my feelings for his bandmates, but assured him that he was okay in my book.
BEST MOMENT OF THE EVENING - I also had the pleasure meeting my MySpace buddy and the new frontman of seminal thrash band Anthrax - Dan Nelson. What was interesting was that HE recognized me and approached me. which led to us shaking hands and giving each other a friendly hug, as though we were old buddies from school who hadn't seen each other in 20 years. The thing that caught me off-guard was how sincere and friendly he acted to a complete stranger with only a website between us. I mean, here is a guy who came from two obscure bands and was discovered and eventually picked to lead one-fourth of the "Big Four of Thrash" back to glory. Someone with an inferiority complex and very insecure could have easily thought that he was king-shit all of a sudden and be a typical jerk-off frontman who regards his fans as scum under his shoe and yet expects them to lick his balls. Instead, he displayed a level of sincere humility and graciousness that was appreciated and refreshing, something rarely found in most frontmen today, and inviting me to go for beers with him. Something my own brother doesn't do with me! Anthrax, and metal fans everywhere, better treat this man right.
WORST MOMENT OF THE EVENING - Having to wait three hours outside and not getting a chance to meet Lemmy, or even Phil, HHH, or Stephanie for that matter. (Not that the latter two mattered much to me.) And though I'm not heartbroken by it - after all, it's their loss - I did get to meet Mikkey Dee as a consolation prize, which was rather disappointing. He came out with an entourage of people and, after taking a pic with me, got into his limousine and left the Roseland. What bothered me was that when I asked Mikkey for a "quick" photo, he countered with an "only if it's quick" response, to which I unfortunately took a very awful photo of us in the dark. (You be the judge of it, as it's posted in my "Metalbros4life" pic section.) For an astounding drummer, he came off as a rather shit-heel, a jaded veteran who simply has no more love to give to fans who, while being crushed from those behind him, watch his worthless drum solo in amazement as it culminates in him tossing about twenty drumsticks in the air. FUCK YOU, MIKKEY DEE! BRING BACK, "PHILTHY ANIMAL" TAYLOR!
TRINKETS
Two guitar picks from Phil
Volcom Tour CD
Valient Thorr stickers
Overall Show Grade: B+
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