Sunday 4 September 2011

The Night We Blinded Lemmy.



It’s 1981 and a bunch of 15 year old lads from Halifax are excited to be out in in the big city. We'd travelled the 10 miles from our hometown by train and are here to see the world’s loudest, dirtiest, drunkest and wartiest band of the 80’s, Motorhead.

Dressed in the NWOBHM uniform of denim jackets with the sleeves torn off with band patches sewn all over them. The New Wave of British Heavy Metal was at it’s height and there were more bands than there was time in the day to listen to them all.

I had a large patch sewn on the back of my jacket from the Fly By Night album cover by Rush. I didn’t even like Rush but they were metal so that as reason enough.

We got inside the venue an watched the first two support acts. First up were Lightning Raiders, who quite frankly weren’t going to get anywhere with that name, they sounded like a brand of confectionery.

Then came the forgettable Tank, I can’t comment on these as I don’t remember a thing about them.

The third act were Trust and these were much more interesting. These were a French metal band, the drummer Nicko McBrain joined Iron Maiden when they became massive. Their signature song Anti-social was covered by Anthrax a few years ago.

While these were on we were standing by the sound desk in the middle of the audience when my mate suddenly started pointing excitedly.


Look behind the sound desk, it’s Lemmy he said.

Sure enough there stood the Lemster himself, talking with the sound engineer and watching Trust while swigging a can of Carlsberg Special Brew and chain smoking Marlboros.

We couldn’t concentrate on Trust at this point, Lemmy would have to walk through the crowd to get out of the sound booth so this would give us a chance to get his autograph. The fact that none of us had pen or paper didn't occur to us.

Sure enough near the end of Trust's set Lemmy stepped out into the crowd . No-one else seemed to notice although I don’t know how, to me he looked about nine feet tall. He made his way through the crowd away from us and we made our move. The biggest and oldest of us decided to get Lemmy’s attention by reaching out to tap him on the shoulder.

As he did so, Lemmy, for reasons known only to himself, turned around and my mate's finger poked him in the eye.

Lemmy let out a roar and flailed his arms around, spraying special Brew all over us. We did the only sensible thing and panicked, scattering into the crowd with visions of the concert being cancelled due to Lemmy being blinded and ourselves being lynched by enraged Motorheadbangers.

None of us washed our jackets after that, although to be honest we had never washed them before it and had no plans to wash them in the future, not with Lemmy's Special Brew all over them.

So we can say that we poked Lemmy in the eye and got away with it.

Unless he reads this blog.


49 comments:

Belle said...

That is a great story! Love the part about the jackets. I wouldn't have washed mine either.

Fresh Garden said...

Wonderful! Nice post!

Anonymous said...

Wow...Lemmy eye juice on your buddies finger...hope he wiped it on a napkin and sold that shit on ebay. That is a random event but no more random than Lemmy stumbling across this blog and finally piecing together the night he was blinded by a rabid fan!

Electric Addict said...

what a story!

D4 said...

Well, I mean if you were just 15, right. I mean would've at least apologized. Ditched the autograph idea and sang praise or something.

Anonymous said...

You don't apologize to Lem D4. You run for your damn life. I'm with you Tony. Having been raised in the same era of metal there are some things that are just not worth it. haha
Loved it. Thanks for stopping by. It's always great to see your comments. Most of them make me roar with laughter.

Damon said...

woow amazing story :P
great post

Al Penwasser said...

A French heavy metal band? What did they do? Insult the audience?

Bart said...

that is preetty awesome.

Powdered Toast Man said...

He probably tells that story to everyone. He guys could be legends!!

Padded Cell Princess said...

That's the best celebrity encounter story I think I have ever read! It's a story you and your friends will never forget and I doubt Lemmy could forget an experience like that either! Brilliant!

SkippyMom said...

Ooops. Funny, but poor Lemmy. I miss going to the concerts of the 80's.

Tony Van Helsing said...

Belle: Sadly the jacket is long gone.

Fresh: Thanks, my gardening friend.

Jewels: No ebay back then

Electric: And then some.

D4: No apologies in the world of metal.

Craziness: Thanks, I enjoy stopping by.

Damon: thanks mate.

Al: The fact that their most famous song was called 'Anti Social' tells you all you need to know.

Bart: And then some.

Powdered: I'd honestly never though of it like that.

Padded: The amount of Special Brew he puts away I don't think he remembers anything.

Skippy: Those were the days.

my day in a sentence said...

Such a great story! :D
You should contact him somehow. I bet he remembers you. ;D

Angie said...

You lads and your not washing things. We women like to wash things. We are so different :P

Dylanthulhu said...

AHAHAHAHAHAHA! I want to poke a metal musician in the eye now. >.> Where's Zakk Wylde? I'M COMING FOR YA, ZAKKY!

Miranda Hardy said...

So funny! I love this story.

Tony Van Helsing said...

my day: He won't remember me, it wasn't me that poked him.

Angie: Touche.

Dylan: I saw Zakk Wylde playing at Graspop this year, kick him in the balls for me.

Miranda: Thanks, there's plenty more.

Contrary Guy said...

Maybe that's why they didn't play "Ace of Spades" that night.

Stina said...

Wow, I missed out on all the fun! :(

BlueShell said...

"my mate's finger poked him in the eye. "...
I Can't stop thinking anout it....heheheheh

MRanthrope said...

this rules on SO MANY LEVELS. Just meeting Lemmy would be awesome enough...let alone touching/blinding him! haha.

tracirz said...

bwahahaha I can totally envision that.

Samantha VĂ©rant said...

Do I have a sick sense of humor? Why am I laughing? Poor Lemmy.

Tony Van Helsing said...

Core: I'm trying to think of a witty retort but can't at the minute. I'll get back to you.

Stina: You probably weren't even born then.

Blueshell: I stress that it was my mate's finger in case of litigation.

MRanthrope: Does poking in the eye and running away count as meeting?

Tracirz: Lemmy couldn't envision anything at the time.

Samantha: Never mind poor Lemmy, we nearly had heart attacks.

Anonymous said...

Ah, childhood heroes. I'll bet you were a cute band of bad ass 15 year olds. Still got that jacket?

Anonymous said...

Not fair. The only person I have ever poked in the eyeball was myself. And I was not amused.

Tony Van Helsing said...

Alta: The jacket is long gone and we were kind of cute, in a smelly, Yorkshire kind of way.

Doug: The recipient of an eye poke is never amused.

Bart said...

octopus what... thers 6 legs...

Jilda said...

funny story, when I was a teenager I got a local musician to sign my hand after one of his shows,
yep, did not wash my hand for several days.

Life, Liberty and Accountability said...

I'm going to send this blog to him...just so you can't get away from it!

If you're not from Halifax, where are you from? i was born there!

Stephanie D said...

This was a great story. I'll bet you'll be proud to tell the grandkids someday! :)

Padded Cell Princess said...

Ahhh! I'm so glad I checked back! I left you a comment earlier to let you know that I have given you an award on my blog but it seems to have not posted! So yeah, I have given you an award on my blog :)

Rob said...

lol I love these stories. You never disappoint.

Hannah {Culture Connoisseur} said...

Now THAT'S a story. What ever happened to your jacket?

Unknown said...

Awesome story! Maybe try to find him or something, contact him some how.

Lindsay N. Currie said...

I just really want to know where the jacket is now...

Outcast said...

Such an interesting, awesome story. Cool blogs in general dude. Going to have to certainly follow you on here!

Styron said...

hahaa loved it! xd

Pat Hatt said...

hahaha great story, guess you never know what a poke in the eye can brew up

Anonymous said...

Thanks for stopping by and wishing me well yesterday! Your a champ.. Now get to writing Mr.. You fans await.

Christina Farley said...

Great story! I love how some memories just continue to haunt me.

Tony Van Helsing said...

Bart: What?

Jilda: you should have chopped off your hand and pickled it.

Kid Shuffle: I am from Halifax but not the Canadian one.

Stephanie: I don't have normal kids, let alone grandkids.

Padded; An award, I love you!

Rob: More to come.

Hannah: Long gone.

Devour: No f**king thanks.

Lindsay: Don't we all.

Yeamie: Hope you have a blog as I will follow you too.

Reilly: You have great taste.

Pat: A poke in the eye certainly breaks the ice.

Craziness: You are a sweetheart and I care about you.

Christina: I hope it doesn't haunt Lemmy.

Come At Me Bro said...

This is great!

Jessica Thompson said...

Haha, that's great!

Dilord said...

I never wash my Leather jackets. That's a classic though.

nowaysj said...

Sending them a link.

Tony Van Helsing said...

Come at me: Thanks.

Jessica: I don't think Lemmy found it great.

Dilord: Saddle soap your jacket , young man.

Nowaysj: Just don't send it to Lemmy.

Anonymous said...

That guy is ugly as f*ck! :P