Motörhead were forced to cut a show after just four songs at a show in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Thursday night, as frontman Lemmy became too unwell to continue with the performance.
The metal site Blabbermouth says the 69-year-old rocker “complained to the crowd that he couldn’t breathe and/or was experiencing severe back pain prior to stopping the show and leaving the stage”.
Lemmy has had a series of health scares. In 2013, he had a device fitted to prevent his heart stopping, and suffered a hematoma last year. Earlier this year, he was forced to cancel shows owing to gastric illness. He has also diabetes, which has caused him to change drinks from Jack Daniels and Coke to vodka and orange.
“I’ve had to really cut back on smoking and drinking and whatever,” Lemmy told Kerrang! last week. “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.”
Earlier this summer, the Guardian’s Michael Hann interviewed Lemmy, and observed: “Lemmy has lost a lot of weight, and appears pale and drawn. His hands aren’t wholly steady, and he says that these days he has to walk with a stick because ‘my legs are fucked’.”
However, the frontman insisted he was still indestructible and said he had no intention of retiring, insisting he will continue fronting Motörhead “as long as I can walk the few yards from the back to the front of the stage without a stick. Or even if I do have to use a stick.”
In brighter news for Motörhead, the group were honoured by Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday at a special presentation ahead of the release of their album Bad Magic. “Lemmy and crew epitomise what it means to live rock and roll, and fans throughout the world continue to view Motörhead as the torchbearers of that elusive music we call rock and roll,” said city council member José Huizar. “And who couldn’t love a group that starts its live concerts with these words: ‘We’re Motörhead and we play rock and roll’?”
