theluxordream3

Motörhead

Hammersmith Odeon

England

October 19th 1975

Remastered audience recording.

Not the greatest sound quality, as you can imagine, but it's notable:

It was their 11th gig and they were opening for Blue Öyster Cult

(who were making their UK debut)

Umlauts a go-go!

Here's some memories of Motörhead's performance:

Sam Judd (BÖC roadcrew)

I don't have many memories of that first gig except for all the GLC rules

that almost kept us from using any special effects, but I do remember Motorhead

as I was already a big Hawkwind fan and was anxious to see just what Lemmy had cooked up.

The crowd had no idea what to make of them except that they were too loud to enjoy.

My all time Motorhead memory is from that night though.

As I was helping carry off the drum kit, the first cymbal stand I picked up

slipped right through my fingers to the floor.

It was then I noticed that the metal stands were all covered

with a thick coating of what looked to be motor oil.

Upon inquiring "what the feck" I was informed that the drummer

liked the smell of the oil on the metal stands as the stage lights heated them up.

I remember thinking "these boys have got a bad case of Heavy Metal".

Little did I know the history that Motorhead would compile.

We always had fun working with them as they were interested in little else

besides how loud, fast and high they could play... no politics involved.

Geoff Barton (Sounds, October 25th 1975)

Lemmy's Motorhead played the second worst set I've ever seen.

The only past concert I can think of that surpasses it,

in terms of musical ineptitude, was of course the same band's first gig

some while back at the Chalk Farm Roundhouse.

Nick Kent (New Musical Express October 25th 1975)

Sunday night at the Hammersmith Odeon was very much yer connoisseur's guide

to rampantly uninspired heavy metal thunder, kicking off with Motorhead's

shocking performance which promptly prefaced the slickness to come with one of the most

horrendous displays of H. Metal Savage incompetence possibly ever performed.

Of course, it didn't exactly help that guitarist Larry Wallace's bank of amplifiers

quickly developed severe feed-back problems rendering most of his playing inaudible

beneath a plethora of teeth-grinding electronic incontinence, but aside from that,

the fact that Lemmy's consortium raging through the likes of 'Bye Bye Johnny'

and 'I'm Waiting for the Man' ultimately comes on like nothing so much

as Budgie on methedrine can't exactly gladden the soul

of the more discerning metal aficionado.

Forced exile camping it up at the Roundhouse should keep them from harm

until such time as they see their way to approaching their craft with something other

than all the panache of a butcher stripping meat from an overripe carcass.

Interestingly enough, Motorhead were given an immensely hard time from the crowd.

They turned quite nasty in fact towards the end, displaying all the earmarks

of that rarest of commodities in London - an uncompromisingly ballsy audience.

Richard Lawton (audience member)

My first memory of that night is a painful one: Motorhead... they were insanely loud.

I remember that Lemmy kept on shouting out "Is it loud enough?"

When the crowd roared back "It's too loud!" Lemmy would yell to the sound engineer

"OK, Charlie, turn it up!".

Crazy, my ears hurt for days afterwards.

A 2.25m (7.4 ft) bronze statue of Lemmy Kilmister stands

in Market Place, Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, the late singer's hometown.

Unveiled on May 9th 2025, the black-coloured memorial was sculpted

by local artist Andy Edwards to mark 50 years of Motörhead

and nearly a decade since Lemmy's passing.

To the best of my knowledge there are no statues commemorating the NME's Nick Kent.

regards

Titus

01 Motörhead

02 Lost Johnny

03 Silver Machine

04 City Kids

05 Waiting for the Man

06 Leaving Here

07 Johnny B. Goode

link