In 2015, Lemmy and Motörhead toured in support of their 22nd studio album, titled Bad Magic; sadly, this would be Lemmy’s final tour, for he passed away in December 2015.
For a little over half a century, Lemmy captivated the world through his music, and although he was struggling to perform toward the end of his life (due to health issues), he was always driven to give his fans an incredible show.
During an interview with Metalsucks, Motörhead drummer Mikkey Dee was asked about that final tour and how Lemmy was doing during that time.
While reflecting on that final tour with the legendary frontman, Dee talks about how he saw that Lemmy wasn’t doing too well, and how he told him that the band could pack it up and he could go get some rest; but Lemmy was absolutely against the idea, saying, “The fans paid for this. I’m not going home.”
Per Dee:
“The last tour was pretty hard. We had to take it one day at a time because Lemmy was struggling. It was no secret, but at the same time, I just looked at Lemmy while we were playing, and I knew how much he had put in to be able to do this. Honestly, as the tour was happening, I told him several times that we should pack it up. I thought he should go home, rest, and feel better.
“But he said, ‘Oh, no. I don’t want to cancel. We’ve got to play. The fans paid for this. I’m not going home.’
“After that, me and Phil talked about it, and we said, ‘Look, let’s not fight him. Let’s let him have this. Let’s help him instead.’ So, we did everything we could to support him and keep the tour going. We had to pull down the tempos a little bit on certain songs so that Lemmy could keep up on the nights that he wasn’t feeling strong.
“We just tried to help him out as best we could, and we got it done. For us to be able to play those shows was incredible. We managed to play most of the shows; that’s incredible.”
The interviewer then asks Dee what Lemmy’s “state of mind” was like at the time – Dee replies with the following:
“He took the hit and gave it all he had. He took a lot of punches. I remember that after the shows, on most nights, he would be completely exhausted. We all were tired, but obviously, he was more than us. But that gave us the inspiration to continue because we saw how much Lemmy wanted it. He did not want to give up; he did not want to cancel.
“He said, ‘We have to stay out here. We should stay out on the road for our fans who bought tickets. They want to hear us; we got to do this.’ And looking back, I’m so glad we did. Lemmy took punches, but he hit back in a big way, and he succeeded. He really did die with his boots on; I’ll tell you that.”
Leave it to Lemmy to do everything in his power to make sure his fans had an awesome time. He was such an amazing individual and his legacy will live on forever.
Mikkey Dee Says He 'Will Never Tour' as Motörhead Again
Watch: When Lemmy, Forever A Badass, Almost Fought A Disrespectful Fan Mid-Set
