Motörhead has shared an official video recap of the unveiling of the statue of the band’s founder and bassist/vocalist Lemmy Kilmister, which was held on May 9th during the Lemmy Forever ceremony in Burslem, Stoke on Trent, England, watch it below.
With Motörhead guitarist Phil Campbell attending to place Kilmister‘s ashes in a magnificent statue created by local sculptor, and huge Motörhead fan, Andy Edwards, the day was filled with fun, friends, and some volume too.
The ceremony commenced in Burslem town center at approximately 4:00 p.m., with friends invited to come early and make a day of it by enjoying some pre-ceremonial Motörhead beverages at the various site-adjacent hostelries including Old Post Office bar and Ale House, while the Market Place Café also had refreshments, including a special Motörhead roast of the day.
Some of the ceremonial festivities included a biker’s corteo accompanying the ashes, various speakers, and a roaring 21-rev salute which hit the skies in ceremonial reverence. The statue itself, captures Kilmister, in all his live glory from the 1981 era, which saw Motörhead headline the Heavy Metal Holocaust just down the road at Port Vale Stadium back on August 1st, 1981.
A 7.5-foot statue of late Motörhead legend Lemmy Kilmister was unveiled in his English hometown of Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, during a ceremony last Friday (May 9th).
The ceremony commenced in the Burslem town center at approximately 4 p.m. on Friday, with Motörhead guitarist Phil Campbell in attendance to place Lemmy’s ashes in the statue alongside the accompaniment of a biker’s corteo.
The celebratory day saw fans flocking to adjacent bars and hostelries to enjoy libations in Lemmy’s honor. Ceremonial festivities included a 21-rev salute, a viewing of rarely seen Lemmy photographs via The Bare Walls Art Gallery next to the statue, a Motörhead tribute band performance later in the evening, and more.
Some even got there a day early to see the statue be transported in by truck, as seen in YouTube footage below, before being carefully lifted and placed on its plinth. A day later, the statue was publicly unveiled from beneath an orange parachute to the roar of the crowd in attendance.
The statue itself is incredibly detailed and a remarkable piece, capturing Lemmy in his iconic stage pose, singing upward toward the skies with the microphone placed abnormally high above him. The statue was constructed by local sculptor Andy Edwards — a longtime Motörhead fan who caught the band live in its heyday — out of Staffordshire clay.
“It’s unbelievable — it looks alive,” one fan told BBC Radio stoke at the ceremony. “Looking at it now, he really has captured Lemmy to a tee. It’s brilliant.”
It’s not the first time Lemmy has been immortalized in statue form. Three years ago, the Motörhead great became a permanent beacon for attendees of the French metal festival Hellfest, and a Giant lemmy -sculpture— also enshrined with his ashes — now looms over the festival grounds in Clisson. Moreover, a life-size statue of Lemmy resides at West Hollywood, California’s Rainbow Bar & Grill, where the rock legend was a regular until his passing in 2015.
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