March 16, 2010. Motörhead @ Stubb’s BBQ in Austin, Texas.

Damn good show.

The SXSW (South By SouthWest) festival is going on this week. This show was not part of SXSW, but rather the debut of the Lemmy documentary movie, which is debuting at the festival. A whole week of Motörhead activities. While I’d love to catch the movie, too much of the rest of it is wrapped up in SXSW b.s. and I prefer not to deal with that headache. I’ll catch the movie eventually.

The headache was already evident. Downtown Austin was overrun by people wearing SXSW badges. Damn hipsters. 😉 Driving was a pain. Parking was mostly difficult but I lucked out because I got there fairly early and found parking in a lot right across the street.

But the show, it rocked.

Started out with a band called Year Long Disaster. Never heard of them, but they weren’t too bad. They were tight, some of the songs were alright. They need to learn how to be a live band tho, like crowd interaction and putting on a show. But they’re new and young, and they have potential. I don’t think I’d buy their album, but only because it wasn’t really the sort of thing I’m into. Still, they were decent and I found myself digging some of their songs. They pulled out a cover of Black Sabbath’s “Never Say Die” which I thought was pretty cool as I always thought that was a great song for a live performance (so much energy).

Next up was Austin, Texas’ own, The Sword. I came across them about 2 years ago. Reading blabbermouth.net and I saw some blurb about an Austin band. Being as I read it on blabbermouth that meant there was a metal band in this town, which is welcome from all the prolific “singer-songwriter” crud around this town (you can’t spit without hitting a “starving musician” in this town). I checked out their debut album, “Age of Winters” and then picked up “Gods of the Earth” when it came out. Sometimes the singer’s voice is a little monotonous for me (he doesn’t have a lot of range), but overall I really dig the band and have been itching to see them live since I first listened to their album. I just found it crazy that The Sword was from Austin but rarely played here! So that they were on this bill was a fantastic bonus.

The Sword rocked. Hard. They are tight. Heavy. They played numerous songs from their first two albums, but they also played three songs from their upcoming album (they said it was coming out this summer). Those 3 songs were killer. It’s evident this band is growing, progressing, getting better. It certainly whet my appetite for the next album. Their lead guitarist, Kyle Shutt? He shreds. Being the sort of “sludge doom Sabbathy” sort of band that they are, you wouldn’t think it, but in those new songs Shutt was shredding. It fit quite well with the energy and flow of the songs. I’m looking forward to the album. Awesome stuff.

Finally, what we came for. Motörhead.

The band was on, as you’d expect after so many decades together. Mikkey Dee is an amazing drummer. Phil Campbell is underrated as a guitarist (metal or blues, because ultimately he’s a blues guy). And of course, Lemmy. The show was very much a modern Motörhead show, with the band just belting out the songs one after another. Small bits of interaction and in between songs, and you can tell these guys really enjoy playing together… joking on stage, talking to each other, but taking care of business. And doing it loud. I’m sure they were pushing the limits of any noise ordinance.

The performance was solid, although there was one obvious screw up. Lemmy started “Going to Brazil” but the rest of the band wasn’t ready. They had a good laugh and started again. This is the joy of live music, real music — no Auto-Tune here. The setlist was fairly expected, especially the encore. But some obscure gems were pulled out, like “Cradle to the Grave”. I was personally happy they started out with “Iron Fist” (I believe the first Motörhead song I heard as a kid), and threw in songs like “In The Name Of Tragedy” and “Just Cos You Got The Power”. I didn’t know it was Lemmy that played the harmonica during “Whorehouse Blues”; it was different to see him just standing on stage behind a mic without his Rickenbacker. The trouble is, with so many albums and so many years at this, how do you make a setlist? You just can’t play everything, you just can’t get all the songs and favorites in there. I would have loved to hear “I’m So Bad (Baby I Don’t Care)” but alas. So they of course put in some crowd staples (e.g. “Ace of Spades”), something for the old farts in the back in the rocking chairs (“Metropolis”), and just had fun and pleased themselves with their choice of songs.

1. Iron Fist
2. Stay Clean
3. Be My Baby
4. Rock Out
5. Metropolis
6. Over The Top
7. One Night Stand
8. I Got Mine
9. (Guitar Solo)
10. The Thousand Names of God
11. Cradle to the Grave
12. In The Name of Tragedy (w/ drum solo)
13. Just ‘Cos You Got The Power
14. Going to Brazil
15. Killed By Death
16. (encore)
17. Whorehouse Blues
18. Ace of Spades
19. Overkill

Good show. Glad I went. Got the t-shirt (a limited “Motörhead – Austin” shirt). Rock out!

Updated: I just realized something. Motörhead played Austin on September 20, 2009. The setlist was almost exactly the same. The only differences? They played “Another Perfect Day” instead of “Cradle to the Grave”, and “Bomber” was played after “Killed by Death”. Like I said, the setlist was fairly expected…. but I didn’t think it was nearly the same as before! Ah well. Still enjoyed the show.