We were stunned to report last Friday that Motorhead's 1 hour-plus set was shortened to about twenty minutes after frontman Lemmy Kilmister was unable to continue. Kilmister has been dealing with some health issues recently, and the band even cancelled other European festival gigs, so why did they decide to play Wacken? Lemmy didn't want to let Wacken fans down. At least that's what the band says.
In a new statement released by Motorhead, they blame the heat and Lemmy getting ahead of himself in regards to cutting down the performance time:
"The show had to go on because that's how Lemmy rolls. Even though he was not 100% fit, he refused to feel he was letting the 85,000 Wacken fans down. They kicked ass in the 100-plus-degree heat for a shortened, but powerful, set before Lemmy finally realized he might have bitten off a little more than he could chew. Thus, he will embark upon the recuperation recommended. We know that rumors are flying around, but once he fully recharges, Motorhead will be back, don't you worry!"
As much as I love Lemmy, and Motorhead this statement reeks of crowd control and lies. While I'm sure there was a part of Lemmy that "didn't want to let the fans down," I'm sure it had much more to do with the massive guarantee the band got paid for playing. We discussed this in great depth on this week's Livecast, so take a listen.
