As Motörhead celebrate their 50th anniversary this year, there’s been no short of celebrations of Lemmy’s life over the past few years with tributes taking place at Hellfest, Wacken, Bloodstock, and Stringfellows alongside an statue to be unveiled in Stoke-on-Trent. Normally seen at such events is the longest-standing member of the band after Lemmy himself, Phil Campbell, who has been flying the flag for Motörhead and its legacy since the band came to its natural conclusion.
One such way has been Campbell’s own band with his Bastard Sons, throwing in the odd Motörhead (or even Hawkwind) cover into their live sets. However, over the last few years, they’ve been doing full sets of Campbell’s previous band so to take it out for a full UK tour is maybe overdue but if you’re going to do it, now couldn’t be a better time to do so. And to make it even better, tonight is a Saturday night in England’s best venue – KK’s!
With the paying job getting in the way once more, it meant missing out on s Liberty Lies and Fury, neither of which I’ve seen. Thankfully, we’ll catch Fury at Hella Rock Festival in Coventry on 30th August. As for Liberty Lies, we caught them opening for The Fallen State (which they came out of hiding for – tonight was a warmup and hopefully they stick around!) and Mosh was mightily impressed. Having missed the two prior bands, it means there’s not long to wait until the main event which is introduced by Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons launch headlong into “Iron Fist”.
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They blaze through a staggering nineteen songs, more than doing justice to the band which made Campbell a household name in the world of rock. He may not have contributed to all the songs performed but he’s been playing them for over thirty years. If anyone has the right to continue and honour Lemmy’s legacy, it’s him. He plays those early songs which defined Motörhead’s ascendancy; all those ones you immediately think of. Needless to say, it’s a set which is big, loud and brash – everything that legendary band was and is and what the Bastard Sons continue to do.
As always, there’s nothing fancy, there’s no gimmicks, no message to share. It’s all about both the band and the audience having the best night possible and even before they hit the halfway mark, it’s mission accomplished. You can see it in them that they’re enjoying this, loving it as much as when they play their own material. There’s no sense of obligation. There’s not much from Motörhead’s purple patch at the end of their career, other than “Lost Woman Blues” which the Bastard Sons have slotted into their own shows at points. However, they do manage to rifle down the back of the couch for a couple of deep cuts and less obvious numbers like “Smiling Like a Killer” and “Whorehouse Blues” which go down just as well as the popular cuts.
As riffs fly fast and furious, Campbell may have given his name to the band, but he isn’t the star of the show. It’s the five of them together and that’s more obvious than it’s ever been. They’ve been going for almost ten years, and this almost feels like a victory lap for them. Vocalist Joel Peters is fully bedded in, cutting an imposing figure on the stage, his gruff and rasping vocals a perfect fit for the source material. Campbell trades licks with his son, Todd, presumably in the same fashion Motörhead did during their stunt with two guitarists (of which the senior Campbell featured in). Unfortunately, I’m too young to have witnessed Motörhead in that configuration. Meanwhile, Tyla Campbell’s bass is appropriately filthy and bulkier than a TV from the early 2000s, before we all switched to flat screens, locking in effortlessly with Dane and the pair of them give the urgency required of tonight’s set.
While it is all about Lemmy’s band, they power their way through a cover of David Bowie’s “Heroes”, the Motörhead version acted as Lemmy’s epitaph and it’s fitting to end the show on such a song. The encore also has Hawkwind’s “Motorhead” and whilst their version of “Silver Machine” is incredible, this feels more appropriate. Needless to say, it’s a celebration carried out with the utmost of sincerity from the first note to the last. It’s not a welcome rest for the Bastard Sons material as Motörhead’s always fitted in seamlessly and their own songs are every bit as good but if you want to see a Motörhead show in 2025, this is as close to the real thing as you’ll get.
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Photos by Skull Lens Photography
