Motorhead have been forced to cancel a few of their European summer
festivals and reschedule others after founder and frontman Lemmy
Kilmister was diagnosed by doctors this week as suffering from extreme
dehydration leading to exhaustion and was ordered to take time off and
rest immediately.
«When you’re dealing with a warhorse like Lemmy it’s not easy to
discuss typical normal healthy things such as a balanced diet and
proper fluid intake,» said manager Todd Singerman. «Look, one time
when I spoke to him about the importance of vegetables in a diet, he
looked me straight in the eye and said «what are you talking about Todd! These
crisps here are part of the vegetable food group!» So imagine telling
him he needs to drink more water because it’s a crazy hot summer in
Europe! Although in fairness to Lemm he did start making an effort by
adding extra ice-cubes to his Jack and coke»

Drummer Mikkey Dee spoke of the 100 plus degree heat at recent gigs,
and commented, «I’m having to drink 8 bottles of Gatorade as well as
water just to get through these shows, I mean, I’m close to passing
out, and there’s Lemm sweating his ass off drinking his Jack and coke!
I told him after our last number at the Fury Fest in France, «let’s
not go back out for an encore» and that we should call it a night
because really, I thought I was going to collapse. They were telling us
that it was over 130 degrees on stage, but he insisted on doing the
final two encores. We managed to get through ‘Ace Of Spades’ so I said
‘come on Lemm, we did an encore, let’s just skip the last one
‘Overkill’ » and he said, «no Mikkey, we’re doing ‘Overkill’ but maybe
we can just play it a little slower. «
Commenting on rumors that Lemmy’s health is in a more serious state
than diagnosed, Singerman laughed.
«Come on, you couldn’t make this story up! The simple truth is that
Lemmy’s the classic rock’n’roll juggernaut who has proudly defied human
logic for decades, but even juggernauts need a bit of maintenance once
in a while.»