Motorhead, Morbid Angel, Voivod

Ever have one of those defining moments occur, where before you even go to it you know you are doing something you are supposed to be doing? Going to this concert on April 28th felt like that. I mean, look at the lineup. Long time Montreal legends Voivod, Long time American legends Morbid Angel, and one of the forefathers of much of the music I love so much now, Motorhead.

And once again, this was another day that was “full of Montreal activities” meaning we went up to do a lot of stuff before the gig. But since no one really seems to care about the extraneous parts of my gig reviews, I’ll give a brief “pre-gig” timeline: Skalkt late / Vermont State Troopers / Donovan & David in Milton / cool boarder crossing / back door to the Medieval festival / snow, snow snow snow / Donovan’s jacket / Dave’s bar quest / my CD quest / beer, beer, more beer / tit bar / beer / Donovan and David go to get a BJ and ditch me and Gary /freezing cold winds / hour late opening of the door / doormen fight with punk rocker trying to sneak in / made it inside / got a beer and a Motorhead t-shirt.

So Gary and I stand in our same spot as we do every time, which is slightly left of dead center and back about 30 to 40 feet. It’s just our spot for some reason, and we rarely move from that.

The first band up was Speedealer. They were from Texas. They should have stayed in Texas. But thankfully, they had a short set.

Next up was Montreal legends Voivod. Something weird happened here. I was never a huge Voivod fan, but I did like them enough to listen to them on my own. I hadn’t heard them in years and hadn’t seen them play since 1987. But when Snake came out on the stage, it was like running into an old friend, a familiar face, something like that. Gary and I were hopping around, banging our headsa and were totally “horns up". Voivod played a great set, with a lot of classics, but they saved the best for last. When I heard the tell-a-tale guitar feedback, I grabbed Gary and spun him around. Single-handedly we started a thrash pit of about 50 people, which was totally called for since the song was “Voivod” and was one of the heaviest thrash songs the band ever did.

Donovan and David showed up right after Voivod was done. Evidently their quest has been fruitless. Fuckers. Serves them right for ditching us and missing Voivod.

Then came my first experience with American legends Morbid Angel. Now granted, I’ve not heard a lot of their stuff when you compare what I have (3 albums) to their massive discography. But if you ever have the opportunity to see them live, even you have never heard them before; it’s 100% worth the effort to go. Morbid Angel was amazing. They had a huge pit going, but since I didn’t recognize any of the songs (I was hoping they would play my fave “Loin’s Den” but they never did) I stayed back a bit and just watched them play. I would go see Morbid Angel again without hesitation.

Motorhead came on after a long delay; there was an equipment screwup or something. But when they finally did come out, it was explosive. This was my first ever seeing Motorhead, and I’ll tell you, Lemmy is as ugly in real life as he is in photographs, but damn, he can sing. They hammered through a few songs but were shut down by security as some dumbfuck punk rockers got up on the stage and pretended they were part of the band. Security came out after about a 5-minute pause and said the next person that gets on the stage would shut down the show.

Motorhead did one encore, which was of course the mighty anthem “Ace of Spades” and I swear the entire club became a pit, like even behind the bar and concession stands I’ll bet. It was a writhing sea of movement. I had a great time.

And a quick timeline for after the gig: ran into Peggy again after 17 years / dancing to Goth music with a bunch of Goth chicks at Fouffonnes and making fun of their wimpy boyfriends/ faggot in the bathroom at Burger King / black prostitute asking me if I wanted some / snow snow snow snow and suicidal roads on the way home/ getting home at 6am and getting ready for work, no rest for the wicked.

So there is my Motorhead review. In all, it was a pretty cool day.

Original post 05/19/02 by Skalk