Oregon Music News

Lemmy Kilmister and Motörhead at the Roseland Theater. Photos by Jon T. Cruz.

Motörhead played a sold-out Roseland in Portland on February 5th for an assemblage of fanatical metal heads of all ages and sizes. Their 2011 tour package is on par with the last time they toured North America, in support of Motörizer, in 2008. Lemmy & Co. enlisted the services of Valient Thorr and Clutch as openers.

Valient Himself wooing the audience. Click for a complete photo gallery of Valient Thorr.

Valient Thorr have played Portland before and have gained quite a following. They normally play smaller venues and this tour was their time to shine and possibly pick-up a few new fans. Taking full advantage of this opportunity, Valient Thorr took the stage like they’d been shot out of a cannon. The amount of energy emanating from the Chapel Hill, North Carolina five-piece took the unsuspecting attendees aback.

Valient Thorr fall under the stoner-rock category but there is a punk edge and boisterous attitude that make them accessible to other audiences as well. Singer Valient Himself looks like the result of merging Grizzly Adams and Richard Simmons–he’s a hairy mess and never stopped moving the entire show. Toward the end of the set Valient Himself jumped off the stage and pretended to row a boat in the middle of the audience. Some of the audience couldn’t help themselves and joined in finishing their incredible performance.

If you’re looking for a modern-day jam band, and if you’re too young to recall The Allman Brothers, The Grateful Dead, or Widespread Panic, then you must check out Clutch. Originally a hardcore band that progressed to metal then did an about-face and turned to heavy blues, Clutch’s style is unlike any other band out there today.

Clutch's Neil Fallon belts one out alongside Tim Sult. Click for a complete photo gallery.

Clutch has toured behind their latest release, Strange Cousins from the West, since its release in 2010, and they continue to do so in 2011. Lead singer Neil Fallon puts forth an animated performance that would make Jim Carrey proud. Fallon posed and moved about the stage without ever missing a note while bassist Dan Maines and guitarist Tim Sult stood frozen at their designated spots. Drummer Jean-Paul Gaster was the heavy-hitting backbone of the hotheaded, harmonious creature that is Clutch.

The band opened with “Pure Rock Fury” and received a tremendous reaction from the already sweaty and warmed up crowd. They selected “50,000 Unstoppable Watts” as the track to represent their new album in their 10 song set. Clutch closed out their 50-plus minute set with “Gravel Road,” at which point Neil Fallon dawned a Les Paul and played a bit of slide guitar like he was at the crossroads near Dockery Plantation. It was an awesome sight as much of the crowd was visibly involved in Clutch’s set, rocking out and singing along to every lyric as pumped fists punctuated each heavy hitting note.

Lemmy Kilmister, the man of the hour.

Opening with Lemmy Kilmister’s oft recited banter of “We are Motörhead and we play rock ‘n’ roll,” Motörhead kicked off their set with “We Are Motörhead.” Drummer Mikkey Dee bashed away on his kit like a lumberjack swinging away at a prized piece of timber. Phil Campbell looked incredibly good and played exceptionally, though Motörhead isn’t known for their technical skill. Having just turned 65 on December 24th, Lemmy Kilmister is metal’s answer to Johnny Cash and Keith Richards. Head tilted upwards at a 45¬∞ angle, Kilmister stood in place as if his custom boots were nailed to the floor. As he growled through each lyric, there were signs of some wear and tear vocally–sadly the man is showing his age.

Motörhead blasted through an 18 song set with untested tracks from their newest (and twentieth) album The World is Yours, including “Get Back in Line” and “I Know How to Die.” They followed up with classics like “I Got Mine,” “Metropolis,” “Killed by Death,” “Ace of Spades,” and encored with “Overkill.”

As you might have guessed, most of the capacity audience stuck around to the end, unless their degenerate behavior got them thrown out by security. If you missed this show, you missed out on experiencing a spectacle that words cannot fully describe. But maybe you can gain a bit of insight into the man behind the band if you can catch the highly recommended Lemmy documentary.