The festival has also constructed a replica of Lemmy’s dressing room, complete with a shower cap over a smoke alarm and a sticker saying, “harassing me about my smoking may be hazardous for your health.” This special tribute includes personal items such as his hat, coat, boots, photographs, and even his last jar of Marmite and Milky Way bars from the band’s final tour in 2015.

Lemmy Kilmister, born Ian Fraser Kilmister, was the vocalist and bassist of Motörhead, known for his gravelly voice, distinctive mutton chops, and outspoken egalitarian messages. Lemmy died on December 28 2015, only weeks after a diagnosis of cancer. It was revealed the following year that the singer’s official cause of death was prostate cancer, along with congestive heart failure and cardiac arrhythmia. Despite his illness, Lemmy continued to perform until just weeks before his passing. Bloodstock Festival director Vicky Hungerford told BBC Radio Derby, “When you go in there, it will feel like you’re in the touring dressing room of Lemmy.” The display also features a traveling slot machine that Lemmy took everywhere, his reading glasses, and his credit card. On Monday, after the event at Catton Hall, a troupe of 30 Harley Davidsons bikers will transport the bust to Rock City, a gig venue in Nottingham. This venue holds a special place in Motörhead’s history, having hosted many of their shows between 1987 and 2006. The ashes will remain on public display at Rock City, with the urn containing Lemmy’s ashes returning to Bloodstock festival every year.

“Lemmy would want to be remembered as a man of integrity, and a true rock’n’roller,” says @myMotorhead star Phil Campbell. “He was a one off.”

Phil Campbell caught up with Sky News ahead of Bloodstock to talk #LemmyForever https://t.co/aZeLL9dXXw

— bloodstockfest (@BLOODSTOCKFEST) August 7, 2024

As part of the tribute, there is also a replica Lancaster bomber at the festival, which was suspended above the stage during Motörhead’s 1979 Bomber tour. Speaking to BBC Radio Derby Bloodstock festival director Vicky Hungerford expressed her honour at being approached by Motörhead management to have Lemmy’s ashes at the festival. She said: “we were humbled and honoured to be approached by Motörhead management to have Lemmy’s ashes at Bloodstock. This tribute is a fitting way to celebrate Lemmy’s legacy and his significant impact on the heavy metal community.”

 

 

 

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In April, more of Lemmy’s ashes were enshrined at the Rainbow Bar & Grill on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood. This venue also boasts a patio named ‘Lemmy’s Lounge’. Last summer, more of his ashes were scattered in the mud at Germany’s Wacken Open Air festival to commemorate Motörhead’s countless shows there. Metallica’s James Hetfield has even had some of the ashes incorporated into a spade tattoo on his middle finger.

Motörhead manager Todd Singerman also shared a statement: “Bloodstock has always been a special place for Motörhead and for Lemmy. The people and the energy matched Lemmy’s values perfectly. This is definitely a fitting honour in the continuing series of enshrinements of Lemmy’s ashes in his most loved places.”

The world lost the raspy-voiced icon on 28th December 2015 after he tragically lost his battle to cancer, just four days after the singer’s 70th Birthday. His funeral service held in Los Angeles at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills was live-streamed on YouTube with over 230,000 fans watching to pay their respects.

Riki Rachtman, the former host of MTV’s ‘Headbangers Ball’ from 1990-1995, was one of the lucky few who received one of the golden bullets with his friend’s ashes inside. He recently took to Twitter to display his bullet and thank his friend.

Before his death #Lemmy asked for his ashes to be put in some bullets & handed out to his closest friends Today I received a bullet & was literally brought to tears Thank you @myMotorhead pic.twitter.com/gnI9aWe4iU

— Rev. Riki Rachtman (@RikiRachtman) March 22, 2021

Lemmy had become a symbol of hard living and hard rock n roll during his life and is most remembered as singer and bassist for British rockers ‘Motörhead’. Originally named ‘Bastard’, Lemmy decided to change the name to ‘Motörhead’, which was the name of the last song he had written for ‘Hawkwind’. Forming ‘Motörhead’ in 1975, Lemmy previously was the bassist and vocalist for the band ‘Hawkwind’, famed for their number three hit ‘Silver Machine’. Lemmy was soon kicked out of ‘Hawkwind’ due to a drug arrest In May 1975 whilst on tour in Canada. ‘Motörhead’ would go on to release one of rock’s most popular song, ‘Ace of Spades’ in October 1980. The single would bring the band popularity and immense success, at the time of Lemmy’s death, the single had sold over 208,830 digital copies.

In 2010 a documentary about the icon was released under the name, ‘Lemmy’, and the documentary’s director Greg Oliver has revealed that a new biopic about the singer will be released. After a couple of years in the making, Lemmy fans have been looking forward to the new biopic for a while, with production started early of this year.

The film will follow Lemmy’s life, from his early days when he was Jimi Hendrix’s roadie to his four-year stint in ‘Hawkwind’. It also promises to show the side of Lemmy which existed beneath the hard rocker exterior. Oliver recently had this to say about the biopic in a statement released last year.

“Everything you’ve heard about Lemmy is probably true … not because he was embracing rock n’ roll clichés, but because he was creating them, Marlboro Reds and Jack Daniel’s for breakfast, speed for dinner – all true But behind that steely-eyed façade of Rock’n’Roll was also a compelling, complicated and lion-hearted man who stayed the course and never gave up playing the music that made him happy. We’ve been carefully developing this biopic since 2013, making sure to stay true to Lemmy, Motörhead band members Phil Campbell and Mikkey Dee, and all the other folks that played important roles in Lemmy’s life. This will be a film they’ll be proud of.”

The film features a great crew consisting of Andre Relis and Domon Lane as producers, as well as ‘Motörhead’s’ manager, Todd Singerman, working as an executive producer with Steffan Chirazi and written by Medeni Griffiths and Greg Oliver. With a credible source such as Singerman, the biopic is sure to capture all of the mayhem and great music which Lemmy lived by and left for the world.

Photo credit: Raymond Flotat

Lemmy went on to say ” it would’ve disappointed me to go out, play some average shows and watch my health give way long before the tour was over! When people come to see a Motörhead tour, they expect a Motörhead show, and that is exactly what you will get as soon as I am fit and ready to rumble.”

Motorhead had to cancel the remainder of their European tour earlier this year after Lemmy was reported to have been suffering from a haematoma, and it was revealed that he had been fitted with a defibrillator due to an ongoing cardiac condition.

The November tour is to support their latest release, Aftershock, which came out in September. Luckily for fans, tickets that have already been purchased will still be valid when the tour is set to restart in February.

“Motörhead rocked the Black Stage for more than 30 minutes and Lemmy gave everything he´s got to play an amazing live show,” they said. He´s keeping well – but the temperatures and circumstances led to the point that continuing the show would have led to a loss of quality. We are very happy and proud that Phil, Mikkey and particularly Mr. Rock n’ Roll himself, Lemmy Kilmister, played W:O:A 2013 and that they did everything humanly possible to play this gig. Thank you so much, guys!”

Motörhead had to stop after six songs after Lemmy was unable to continue. In June it was revealed that he had a defibrilator to correct heart problems, and suffered a haematoma shortly after. The band have cancelled tour dates in November but are still planning on releasing their new album, Aftershock, in September.