Live Review: Iron Fist - A Tribute To Lemmy

Walking down Fitzgerald Street you could hear Black Sabbath beaming from the Rosemount Hotel beer garden 500 metres away; then again, if any gig had an excuse to play it loud, this would have been it. 

The crowd was swaggering largely between the solid deck work of DJ Holly Doll and the hardcore sounds of The Reptilians.

There's no way around it, it was a sloppy performance. Each band member seemed to run to their own time signature, and hitting the right chords was pretty optional, but damned if it wasn't fucking entertaining. Vocalist Blake Edwards prowled the stage under a barrage of thrash growls, leading with a violent energy. There's no denying the punk here and they opened the night well.

Three-piece Blazin' Entrails slotted into the night perfectly with a firing performance of Hail Satan and Ain't Nothing For You Here. Their hiatus has done nothing to slow the rockabilly swing down and it burned up the room quickly, as Claire Hodgson from The Shakeys stepped in to rock through Lick My Boots and the Headgirl anthem Please Don't Touch.

The snaggletooth T-shirts filled the room as the main Iron Fist band consisting of Jozef Grech, Nathan Sproule and Nick Vasey plugged in with Edwards returning for vocals on Love Me Like A Reptile and Killed By Death, once again lighting up the stage with brutality, passing out shots of Jack Daniels to the crowd and leading a screaming chorus.

Andrew Rowcroft of Chainsaw Hookers stepped in and immediately kicked the night into full speed, blasting into Overkill, The Chase Is Better Than The Catch and an electric version of RAMONES.

If an MVP was going to be handed out for the night however, Joey K of The Devil Rides Out would be downing shots out of that trophy, with brutal and gravel soaked renditions of Damage Case and the Probot killer Shake Your Blood. It was a performance that Kilmister would be proud of.

After a packed stage send off via the anthem Ace Of Spades, the room promptly returned to the bar and continued decimating the Lemmy drink special while sharing their favourite Motorhead gigs, albums, songs and memories.

We won't ever have another chance to hear the iconic opening "We are Motorhead, and we play rock'n'roll" live again, but it's been proven again tonight, Motorhead will never die.