Due to another problem with Lemmy's health, Motörhead had to cancel their gig at Rock Zottegem last summer causing disappointed feelings with many of their loyal fans. And perhaps this explains for a part why tonight’s show was already sold out since last month. But the main reason for the large turnout is without a doubt the fact that Motörhead is celebrating their 30th anniversary with this tour and this apparently appealed to many people.

Motörhead has had a big following amongst bikers since day one and after all those years not much has changed. Perhaps the beer belly’s have expanded a bit and the number of tattoos has increased but that didn’t prevent the ageing biker gang members from wearing their denim & leather outfits. And the ageing affect also didn't affect the crowd's surfing activity, giving the security a run for their money from the minute this show took off.

“Good evening. We are Motörhead and we play rock ‘n’ roll.” And off they went with ‘Dr Rock’. Unfortunately no "Bomber" show on this tour, instead we got a huge backdrop celebrating their 30th anniversary. And fitting for a jubilee, they played a lot of classic songs such as ‘Stay Clean’, ‘No Class’, ‘Metropolis’ and ‘Killed By Death’, each of them greeted with a lot of enthusiasm. Even after 3 decades Lemmy’s look hasn’t changed a bit: the boots, the moustache, his ciggy, his Rickenbacker (or Rickenbastard as it used to read on the neck of his bass) and that look on his face. It’s all still there and although it’s unmistakeably part of the Motörhead image, to Lemmy it’s not an act but just the way he is.

The volume was still loud but unless I’m starting to have a hearing problem, not as loud as I remember it to be from the eighties. This time around everything could be heard in balance. While Lemmy was mainly stuck behind his microphone, Phil Campbell moved around the stage doing a good job instigating the crowd. Hidden behind his skins I’ve never seen a drummer hit the drums so hard and head banging his ass off at the same time, but Mikkey Dee pulled it off without missing a beat and during his solo he also proved to own a great deal of technique.

After this rock ‘n’ roll overdose the first encore, the blues tune "Whorehouse Blues", came as quite a surprise. Both Phil Campbell and Mickey Dee were seated in the front playing on acoustic guitars while Lemmy put his mouth to a harmonica. Imagine that followed immediately by the ‘Ace of Spades’ which made the venue go bezerk. Finally ‘Overkill’ put an end to this show.

So just like Saxon, this British threesome (with actually one Swedish part) can still put on a helluva show and count on a strong following. Perhaps next time they should consider putting them in larger venues again just like in the old days, so everyone can witness this piece of rock ‘n’ roll history.