The ashes of legendary rocker Lemmy have been enshrined within a giant statue of the Motörhead singer at this year’s Hellfest.
It was revealed earlier this week that Lemmy’s ashes would be enshrined in a brand-new statue at the French heavy metal festival, with the official ceremony taking place on Thursday, June 23rd.
The new statue was built by artist Caroline Brisset, replacing an already existing monument at the site. “I said yes because it was a great project,” she told Ouest-France. “And it was also quite a challenge to make such a big statue in such a short time.”
Former Motörhead members Mikkey Dee and Phil Campbell spoke at the ceremony, raising a toast to their friend, while a tribute video to Lemmy was also played.
Hellfest was an appropriate place for Lemmy’s ashes to be enshrined, with the festival being a favourite of the musician. Motörhead performed at the first edition of the festival and continued to appear at it throughout the years.
Now fans will be able to pay respects to Lemmy at every Hellfest from this year onwards. The festival is held every year in Clisson, France, and is one of the most renowned heavy metal festivals in Europe.
The Hellfest monument isn’t the only Lemmy statue in the world: a smaller one was unveiled at West Hollywood’s Rainbow Bar & Grill six years ago, which was the singer’s favourite drinking spot. Fans raised a huge $23,000 to fund the statue.
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It was revealed last year that portions of Lemmy’s ashes were also distributed into bullets and given out to some of his closest loved ones.
“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” Television and radio personality, Riki Rachtman, wrote on social media alongside of photo of a bullet with the name ‘Lemmy’ engraved on it.
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