The Gods of Rock were truly smiling down upon me this year; as a massive fan of Motörhead, '50s rock 'n' roll and rockabilly, I have been praying for the arrival of The Head Cat upon these shores for some time. I have been in tune with the heavenly development of the super group - featuring The Stray Cats' sticksman Slim Jim Phantom and The Rockats' Danny B, alongside Lemmy - and my demonstration of piety was eventually rewarded with a visit by the higher power. Not content with bestowing this much pleasure upon me, the powers that be went one step further by adding Ginger of The Wildhearts to the bill. Monsieur, with these rockers, you're really spoiling us.

So, to add to the excitement the show was set to take place at the Garage in Islington. Yes, they'd even waited until I'd moved to North London! I've seen Motörhead loads of times but never seen Lemmy in a venue this small. I was going to see the embodiment of greatness in a venue of this size! I knew this had to be something special, so I inevitably bought my ticket the moment they went on sale.

Now I have to be honest about something here. What must've been many years ago now I bought a CD in Barcelona, which I thought was something of a Lemmy solo album, but which was in fact named after three members that now make up the Head Cat. It was a covers album, featuring hits from many of the groups and artists that The Head Cat cover today. However, I just didn't quite get it. Everything was fine except that it was produced in a way that seemed to take the "Lemmy" from it. It didn't hit the spot. Put the "Lemmy" back in, I thought, and you'd have an exciting rock 'n' roll record the way it's meant to be. And the same could be said, to some degree, of the recent Head Cat album, 'Walk The Walk... Talk The Talk'. It's definitely better than its predecessor, but that larger than life "Lemmy" is still missing. But maybe that's what they're going for, and maybe they are aiming for the more traditional. Whatever the case, the best songs on the album are, in fact, their own; 'American Beat' and 'The Eagle Flies On Friday'. And no matter what anyone thinks of the album, surely this is going to rock live?

The Garage is almost packed out by the time Ginger takes to the stage. Inevitably most people are here to see Lemmy himself and the Head Cat in general, but Ginger has a good deal of support here tonight, and the crowd are receptive from the off, growing even bolder with each new song. He is not playing with a drummer tonight, but with three guitars across the front a percussive element is added nonetheless and it works brilliantly. When Ginger plays acoustically it sheds a new light on the songs which further reveal just what a good songwriter he is. From the opener 'I Wanna Go Where The People Go' through 'Suckerpunch' to closer  '29 X The Pain' each track is a winner and definite hit this evening. Not all of these songs seem to instantly lend themselves to an acoustic session when you first hear the originals on record, but Ginger is now such a craftsman of it that they work as if they were meant for nothing else. Other additions from Ginger's repertoire such as 'Loveshit' and 'Motorvate', all combined to form a monster of an acoustic set.

The Head Cat finally arrived on the stage after what seemed like an eternity. The venue was fully rammed by this point and people were surging forward, presumably to take advantage of the fact that such a rock legend would be playing at a venue so small by his usual standards; and that's just Slim Jim Phantom, never mind Lemmy!

The group rocked through many standard numbers that they have covered over their short career. They kicked off with the well travelled 'Good Rockin' Tonight', but the show really got started with the excellent 'American Beat', which stands with the best on show tonight. As the group cruised through classic after classic the essence of the fun they were having reverberated throughout the venue. Evidently the band are spending their time doing something they really love, playing music that is close to their hearts, and that is something special to watch from such seasoned musicians.

Tracks ranged from Johnny Kidd and the Pirates' super-popular 'Shakin' All Over', to the more mellow 'Fool's Paradise', both of which sound better tonight than on the record. Another great moment of the show was an airing of The Stray Cats hit 'Rock This Town', which proved one of the liveliest moments of the set. For all that though, it was the crowd that was more tame. Here we had a band fronted by Lemmy, backed up by an honestly superb guitar player in Danny B and a hugely charismatic drummer in Slim Jim, and the crowd took ages to get moving. I can only think it was due to it being a Sunday night, and that everyone was really there to watch Lemmy up close and in an unfamiliar role doing something he loved. It was like a social experiment.

But love it he does, and as I said, this band is more about themselves than anything else. It is about them playing rock 'n' roll the traditional way. The lack of tightness is something that you rarely see at a Motörhead show, but it crept in here and there with The Head Cat, almost as if everything they did was about the rock 'n' roll being played the way it should be. It was loud, it was raw and it was fun. But it was the magic of the experience that was central to tonight. Having the chance to see these guys was something I wasn't sure would ever happen and I felt honoured to be in the presence of it. The members of The Head Cat and the world of modern music in general owe everything to those artists such as Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley. Guys like Danny B and Slim Jim do great work in perpetuating that great music while Lemmy has driven a silver machine that in no small part truly breathed new life in to rock 'n' roll from the late '70s.

The stars of the '50s really are the true kings of rock 'n' roll, and as far as I'm concerned Lemmy deserves his place among them. 'American Beat' and 'The Eagle Flies On Friday' holding their own in this set are an example as to why this is the case, but it is Lemmy's work at the forefront of true rock 'n' roll over the past 40 years that is the evidence. And as Lemmy's voice rasps out over 'Blue Suede Shoes' you know there's been something of a history of rock 'n' roll tonight.

[Photos by Cristina Massei]