This years Eden Sessions have so far given us four sold out shows and with Motorhead bringing The Stranglers with them it was nearly five out of five. I say nearly as there were no more than a handful of tickets left unsold for what was sure to be the loudest night of this years sessions. Having played the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury the previous day, Motorhead made the trip to Cornwall for the first time in many years and the Cornish sunshine was here to welcome them. The Stranglers and local hard rockers, King Creature completed the bill and it was King Creature who were up first.
As they hit the stage the venue was all but full and it’s good to see the mainly local crowd had arrived early to support their homegrown talent.
Their heavy blend of rock was the perfect opening for what was to come and their short set must have gained them many more fans as they strutted their stuff in what is by far their biggest gig to date.
With twin guitars battling away they made a good impression on me and I am sure I’ll get to see them again someday.
Up next were The Stranglers, a group I loved back in the day but as yet had never got to see play live. To say I was looking forward to seeing them most was probably an understatement but I was to be left a little disappointed. Although they played all their hits they just sounded a little flat to me. Perhaps it was where I was standing in the venue but I could hardly pick out any guitar.
Thankfully their classic keyboard sound could be heard loud and clear above the rest of their music. The crowd was a 50/50 mix of Motorhead and Stranglers fans and it was good to see them all joining in to celebrate the music of The Stranglers together. After just over an hour they were done and left the stage to make way for Motorhead.
Motorhead kept us waiting for over 30 minutes thus giving the beer thirsty fans time to restock before the main event. The three members of Motorhead walked onto the Eden stage at just after 9pm and then the carnage began. The fans went wild for the band touted as the loudest band in the World and from this performance they are probably right. With founding member and rock star royalty, Lemmy Kilmister turning 70 later this year it’s amazing he’s still performing if all the stories are true but thankfully he looked well. As Motorhead set about making the crowd deaf it was clear to see theses guys were well practiced in performing to large crowds and they were certainly sounding good. Obviously they have been around for many years now and have a huge cult following and if they perform like this each time they play live it’s easy to see why this following exists.
Mainman Lemmy didn’t seem to interact much with the crowd or move around the stage much but given his age he’s got a good excuse for that. Taking over the job of talking to the crowd between songs was the band’s guitarist Phil Campbell. Being a Welshman he seemed pleased to see a Welsh flag being held high in the crowd as he himself sported a Welsh dragon guitar.
He made full use of the room left by Lemmy as he wandered the stage whilst soloing to the adoring crowd. The crowd were loving every minute of the band’s performance that included both drum and guitar solos.
The highlight of their set for me was the track Lost Woman Blues that sees the band slow things down a little. The inevitable crowd pleasers Ace Of Spades was the band’s penultimate song before sending them home happy with the last song of the set, Overkill. I’ve been waiting for a long time to see these guys and although their set lasted just over an hour it was well worth the wait.
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See Motorhead on tour near you!
http://imotorhead.com/
http://www.thestranglers.net/
http://kingcreature.com
