Why did I want to see Motorhead? Well my mind sometimes works in this way: "I've seen THIS band, so I've got to see THAT one" (For example : "I've seen Bruce Springsteen, so I've got to see Bryan Adams" - but more about that in a future post). So, back in the early 80's the biggest hard rock - or heavy metal of you like - bands were considered to be by a lot of people AC/DC, Motorhead and Iron Maiden. In fact, one day in 1983 I had bought "Flick Of The Wrist", "Another Perfect Day" and "Piece Of Mind" in the same week. And one year earlier, my best friend and me had decided that I would buy "For Those About To Rock", she would buy "Iron Fist" and then we would give them to each other to record them on cassette. So, I had seen AC/DC live (twice), so I had to see Motorhead. (And yes, I have also seen Iron Maiden). Plus, there is a rumour floating around that Lemmy does not want to come to Greece again because he has some issues with the Greek organizers.
Back to the present, as I was buying my concert tickets for the summer, I discovered that I was so lucky that not only Arcade Fire were playing in Rome the day after The Rolling Stones, but Motorhead were playing the day after Arcade Fire (and once gain in a "Ippodromo" (ie hippodrome). And now it's Tuesday and it's time to take a train to Milano, all the way to the north of the country. It's an ultra fast train, the ticket is cheap because it has been paid in advance online so the journey is a pleasant one. Last year, when I was here for the Bruce Springsteen concert at Stadio San Siro I discovered a very good and cheap hotel only one minute walk from the train station.
So the first step was to find out where Ippodromo City Sound was located. The map revealed this to be halfway to Stadio San Siro as one gets out of the underground station. Now, as I found out last year, Stadio San Siro is quite a long walk from the underground station, but as I got out of the station, I just crossed the road and there it was: Ippodromo City Sound. Meanwhile I had met some Italian Motorhead fans (and a Spanish one) and we decided not to go in but stay outside and have a few beers. As we soon found out, this was a very wise decision because in a short while the heavens opened and it started raining hard. We took cover beside one of the fast food stands, while in the meantime Italy was being eliminated from the World Cup and we could see that on one of the TV sets.
Finally, at some point, it stopped raining and we could finally get inside. The weather was still very humid, the ground was wet and quite muddy, but we managed to get in front. And then Pino Scotto came onstage, which for me was a pleasant surprise and the revelation of the evening. He is an Italian rocker who looks a bit like Ozzy Osbourne (but doesn't necessarily sound like him) and sings in Italian and English. Needless to say the next day, I bought his latest CD.
Then, it was time for Motorhead and I had to move back a little because the area in front of the stage almost became a mosh pit, with people pushing each other (but in a nice way). In fact, the guy who pushed me had such a good-natured look on his face that I wanted to say "thank you"!
It was a very short set (little over an hour), but this is Lemmy so you can forgive him anything. Plus it was full of songs from all eras of the band (including even one song from "Another Perfect Day" - "Rock It") culminating with "Ace Of Spades" as the last song before the encore.
And for me, the highlight of the evening was when Lemmy announced "Sorry about the World Cup" (not only had Italy just been eliminated, but England as well) and then launched into "Going To Brazil".
And with that, my Italian adventure for this year was over. Well, not yet, because I had one more day to wander around Milan but more about that some other time...
Setlist:
01. Damage Case
02. Stay Clean
03. Metropolis
04. Over the Top
05. Guitar Solo
06. The Chase Is Better Than the Catch
07. Rock It
08. Lost Woman Blues
09. Doctor Rock
(With drum solo)
10. Just 'Cos You Got the Power
11. Going to Brazil
12. Killed by Death
13. Ace of Spades
Encore:
14. Overkill
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