MOTÖRHEAD was forced to cut its concert in Austin, Texas short last night (Tuesday, September 1) due to continued health issues experienced by the band’s frontman, Lemmy Kilmister.
According to GlideMagazine.com, MOTÖRHEAD delivered only three songs — “Damage Case”, “Stay Clean” and “We Are Motörhead” — before a “fatigued and winded” Lemmy announced the next track, “Metropolis”, and then let out a sigh, telling the crowd, “I can’t do it.” He then left the stage at Emo’s with the rest of his band and returned moments later and apologized to a disappointed but supportive audience. He said: “You are one of the best gigs in America, and I would love to play for you, but I can’t… So please accept my apologies. Next time, all right?” The house lights and music then came on, before “concerned” and “slightly annoyed” fans began funneling out.
Fan-filmed video footage of MOTÖRHEAD’s entire Austin appearance — shot from the front row — can be seen below.
The latest MOTÖRHEAD walk-off follows a similarly abbreviated performance last week in Salt Lake City, where the band cited the high altitude as the reason behind Lemmy’s inability to breathe. A show in Denver, at an even higher altitude, was scrapped the following day before MOTÖRHEAD ever took the stage.
Lemmy, who turned 69 years old in December, in 2013 suffered a haematoma (where blood collects outside of a blood vessel), causing the cancelation of a number of the band’s European festival shows. The band has since scrapped a couple of tours and, during last year’s Wacken Open Air festival in Germany, abandoned its set midway through so Lemmy could be taken to the hospital.
“I’ve had some health scares,” Lemmy told Kerrang! last month, “and I’ve had to really cut back on smoking and drinking and whatever. But it is what it is. I’ve had a good life, a good run. I do what I do still. I’m sure I’ll die on the road, one way or another.”
Asked if he is afraid of death, Lemmy said, “No.”
The rocker told Classic Rock he didn’t expect to still be here at 30,
“I don’t do regrets,” he said. “Regrets are pointless. It’s too late for regrets. You’ve already done it, haven’t you? You’ve lived your life. No point wishing you could change it.
“There are a couple of things I might have done differently, but nothing major; nothing that would have made that much of a difference.
“I’m pretty happy with the way things have turned out. I like to think I’ve brought a lot of joy to a lot of people all over the world. I’m true to myself and I’m straight with people.”
Asked if his illness in 2013 has made him more aware of his own mortality, Lemmy said: “Death is an inevitability, isn’t it? You become more aware of that when you get to my age. I don’t worry about it. I’m ready for it. When I go, I want to go doing what I do best. If I died tomorrow, I couldn’t complain. It’s been good.”
Source: Blabbermouth
