The World Is Yours
I first saw Motörhead back in 1984. It was their first tour of Australia and it was one of the most blistering gigs I have seen in my life. It was the one gig where I remember my body being pushed to one side by an invisible presence known as volume. Yeah, the sound that was pounding off the stage like invisible waves was pushing me to one side. I had no idea what it was but I think after that night, I suffered permanent ear loss. My left ear was never the same after that night and I followed it up by seeing the band for a second time the next night. Yep, brain turned to pure mush.
So many bands boast ‘loudest band in the world’ – unless that boast has a Motörhead logo underneath it, they are liars. No one comes close!
Over the years, I’ve seen Motörhead about four or five times. Always amazing. Always a kick ass rock and roll show. Tonight, however, I was working for the promoter – the ever amazing Red Ant Touring as I would be photographing the band’s Meet & Greet with 40 lucky fans a few hours before the show.
I have done a few of these Meet & Greets for them and at this point in time, its old hat – but still, it requires planning and consideration as punters have paid top dollar to get their photo taken. I take it very seriously but today’s proved to be a ton of fun because well, Motörhead are a ton of fun and the nicest buncha freaking guys you could meet.
Wandering through the backstage area of Festival Hall, I almost found myself in a Spinal Tap moment as I totally lost my way back to the allotted photo area after a toilet break. I laughed to myself and then drummer Mikkey Dee appeared from outta nowhere and pointed me back in the right direction. He took the time to introduce himself to me and to the support act who were also wandering around. Kudos to Mikkey for being so damn nice. Fantastic stuff!
The Meet & Greet area was prepared and a plan of attack was sketched out on how we would handle 40 Motörhead fans in order and unity making it all a smooth and safe process for both band and fan alike.
The whole thing went as smooth as silk. It was a breeze and a blast at the same time. Motörhead were so cool towards their fans and to the photog (me!) – by posing it up and the great one Lemmy, pulling all sorts of faces in my general direction as we snapped away each photo.
When all was said and done, I wanted to get the photos off my camera and onto a computer as soon as was humanly possible. I had my Macbook with me but I preferred to drive home and do it on my desktop straight away. I rushed home and took care of business. The photos turned out fantastic. I was well pleased with them all.
After some rest and a brief sit on the couch – which over the past 5 days has seen me on it for about 10 minutes – it has been that crazy of late. I grabbed a bite and headed back to the venue as I would be shooting the gig as well.
Refer to the opening para, for the first time in my gig going experience, I wore earplugs tonight. The band blasted onto the stage. They looked and sounded as fucking Motörhead as you could get. Loud, pounding rock and roll delivered with speed, precision and pure class. Even through the plugs which were wedged in so tightly, I could feel my teeth rattle! With my chest leaning on the stage to take my shots, I could just feel my rib cage almost part from the vibration seeping over the edge of the stage. Fucking hell!
It was such a great day all round and I’ve been smiling like a chesire cat from the get-go! Thank you to the wonderful folk at Red Ant for making this Metalhead’s dream come true!
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