Motörhead icon Lemmy’s ashes scattered in mud at Wacken Festival
Motörhead icon Lemmy has had more of his ashes scattered the mud at Germany’s Wacken Open Air festival.
The famed British metallers played Wacken countless times during their decades-long career, and some of his ashes were spread as part of Wacken’s ‘Lemmy Forever’ festivities opening the festival at the weekend.
Lemmy, whose real name was Ian Kilmister, died in December 2015 at the age of 70, just two days after he revealed that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer.
“Lemmy coming back to Wacken is an enormous honour for us — words can hardly express how enormous,” said festival co-organiser Thomas Jensen. “We will create a place of remembrance for him that does justice to his significance for an entire genre and beyond.”
“There has always been a special connection between Motörhead and Wacken Open Air; hardly any band has played here more often,” he continued. “The fact that his journey also ends here will forever hold a special meaning.”
The group’s manager Todd Singerman added: “Wacken was one of Lemmy’s dearest homes and we’re delighted he has a place here forever.
“He was a man of the people, and as such, he ‘lived’ in many places worldwide. It’s our aim to allow him to rest permanently in all his ‘homes’ globally and allow his fans worldwide to have a place close to them where they can both pay respects and celebrate his enormous continuing legacy and influence.”
Some of Lemmy’s ashes were already used to create tattoos for Motörhead’s tour manager and production assistant. Meanwhile, the artist had also requested before his death for his ashes to be placed inside bullets and sent to his loved ones.
Earlier this year, the band’s rare 1998 cover of Metallica‘s ‘Enter Sandman’ was finally released on all major streaming platforms.
First recorded in 1998 as part of a compilation album for wrestling company ECW Wrestling, the track was only available via CD – and illegal rips posted online – until now. In celebration of Motörhead Day (May 8), the Grammy-nominated cover track has now been made available on all platforms.
In January this year, drummer Mikkey Dee said that the band will “never, ever, ever tour” under the Motörhead name again. “That, to me, is stepping over the line. We will never, ever, ever tour with Motörhead as a name ever and bring someone else in. That will never happen. But what we are doing is doing some shows here and there,” Dee said.
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Emma Wilkes
NME
