L.A.’s ‘Ultimate Jam Night’ Tribute to Lemmy Kilmister Rocks Out in Spades
It's a very special week in Los Angeles as fans are gathering to celebrate the life of Motorhead's Lemmy Kilmister. The festivities began Tuesday night (Aug. 24) at the legendary Sunset Strip venue, the Whisky-a-Go-Go, as a number of rockers packed the club for the Ultimate Jam Night tribute to Lemmy.
Over the last couple of years, Ultimate Jam Night has become a weekly respite from the work week to come rock out for Los Angeles denizens, with the core lineup welcoming a number of guest performers for a night of rock and metal classics. But for the 75th edition of Ultimate Jam Night, there was something special afoot -- a tribute to Lemmy Kilmister -- featuring music from his Motorhead and Hawkwind days, as well as a number of tracks that were either favorites of Lemmy's or had some association to the rocker.
After blistering opening sets from Dirty Machine and Kraterface, the Lemmy tribute began with host Paulie Z welcoming the night's core band of drummer Matt Starr, guitarist Tracii Guns, bassist Ben White and multi-instrumentalist Walter Ino to the stage as he raised the mic stand above his head and did his best gravel-voiced performance of "Motorhead," offering some history of the song before playing it.
From there, Morbid Angel drummer Tim Yeung, Tabitha's siblings Mayuko and Tsuzumi Okai, vocalist Chas West and Phil Campbell All-Stars and Westfield Massacre guitarist Ira Black took the stage to share memories of Lemmy before rocking out to "Overkill." Yeung and the Okai sisters in particular were a blur of limbs and flying hair as they pummeled away on the classic cut.
Among the highlights of the set were a high energy performance of Hawkwind's "Silver Machine" led by Adler's Appetite's Seann Nicholls on vocals with Frankie Banali on drums, Budderside's Patrick Stone leading "Killed By Death" while Lemmy's widow Cheryl hopped up onstage to dance, and a Debby Holiday-led version of Ozzy Osbourne's "Crazy Train" while King's X's Dug Pinnick laid down some mean bass.
But the big performance of the night that had everyone buzzing was Butcher Babies' Carla Harvey taking over vocals on "Ace of Spades," backed by Tracii Guns on guitar, Pantera's Rex Brown on bass, guitarist Ira Black and drummer Matt Starr. Watch fan-shot footage that includes Lemmy's widow getting in on the fun below.
The evening also included an inspired performance of Thin Lizzy's "Jailbreak" with Guns and Pinnick clearly enjoying the bluesy rendition as Sean McNabb and Stephen Brewer joined in. AC/DC and Dio drummer Simon Wright turned up late in the evening for performances of "Damage Case" and Saxon's "Wheels of Steel." And the night ended with Paulie Z, Matt Starr, Chuck Wright, Walter Ino and Tracii Guns rocking out Motorhead's cover of "Sympathy for the Devil."
The Lemmy tribute also included appearances by the Iron Maidens, Skid Row drummer Phil Varone, Kill Devil Hill's Dewey Bragg, Johnny Kelly and Mark Zavon, Otep's Erik Tisinger and Jesse Blaze Snider among others. See photos from this special tribute in the gallery above.
Carla Harvey, Rex Brown, Tracii Guns, Ira Black + Matt Starr Cover "Ace of Spades"
Ultimate Jam Night 75: A Tribute to Lemmy Kilmister Set List
1. "Motorhead"
2. "Overkill"
3. "No Class"
4. "Hellraiser"
5. "Silver Machine"
6. "Born to Raise Hell"
7. "Killed By Death"
8. "Crazy Train"
9. "I'm So Bad"
10. "Ace of Spades"
11. "Green Manalishi"
12. "Trooper"
13. "Iron Fist"
14. "Jailbreak"
15. "Mama, I'm Coming Home"
16. "We Are the Road Crew"
17. "Damage Case"
18. "Wheels of Steel"
19. "Ramones"
20. "Goodbye to Romance"
21. "Sympathy for the Devil"
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