GWAR blasted their way through Tempe Arizona on Saturday night and painted the sea of scumdogs red at the Marquee Theater. In support of their new album, GWAR returned to the road this Spring on “The Black Death Rager World Tour.” The tour started May 19th in Ft. Wayne, IN and runs through June 17th in Reading, PA. Pre-order “The New Dark Ages” here. The album will be released on CD/Digital June 3rd and Vinyl and Cassette September 16th via the band’s own “Pit Records.
The lineup included The Native Howl, Nekrogoblikon, and Goatwhore. Native Howl is an interesting band. They’re the kind of band you light up a bonfire on a Friday night with a gallon of whiskey and sing along to with all your drunk buddies. They’re fun, rowdy, and sing about moonshine. This was my first time experiencing Neckrogoblikon and honestly it did not disappoint. While the band is talented, the Goblin running around was definitely a huge highlight. It was a little after 9pm when Goatwhore took the stage and this being the second time this year I’ve covered them made me feel lucky. Goatwhore never disappoints and comes full throttle for your throat. Ben, Sammy, Zack, and Robert are a powerhouse in the extreme metal scene.
It was time for the main course of the night and the crowd was absolutely losing it and chanting GWAR over and over again. They were throwing up the horns, screaming, and you could see smiles across the sea of white outfits ready to be splattered with blood and guts. While it seemed that it took a lifetime for GWAR to come on stage, only 15 minutes had passed. The lights dimmed and the crowd lost it again. One by one they started making their way to the stage to “War Pigs” by Black Sabbath. There was one major thing that stood out and that was that The Berserker Blóthar was not present. My guess is he had to head back home to the world of mist to enjoy life and hunting moon moose or that Beefcake the Mighty got hungry and ate off one of his 3 genitals and he had to have surgery to have it reattached. Either way the Mighty GWAR trekked on as if nothing had happened. Pustulus, Balsac and Beefcake all took on vocal duties with Pustulus mainly being the lead. They ran through about 16-17 songs with of course all their hits including “Sick of You,” “Saddam a Go Go,” “Meat Sandwich,” and “Immortal Corrupter.” The set was just about 2 hours long so you got the full GWAR experience.
The first person to get slayed and beheaded was of course a dummy of President Biden. Right as his head flew off the crowd got their first state of blood as Old Man Joe’s blood sprayed everywhere. As GWAR went into “Sick of You,” literally everyone was singing along. After the first three songs, I had to brave it in the crowd. To say GWAR’s scumdogs are insane is an understatement – they’re loyal and on another level when it comes to thelive show. They live and breathe this band and go absolutely nuts. As I was making my way through the crowd I had to stop because the gimp brought out a huge crack rock with a giant life size bong. The next person to grace us with their presence was Vulvatron’s breasts as they pranced around stage in a silk robe to “Rocky Horror.” Blood sprayed everywhere after they were ripped apart. I had to hide behind a very tall man to hide my camera. As we all know with GWAR no one is safe and the next one to get killed off was Putin. As they sliced his hands off and then took the destruction to his chest, blood once again started to reign. One thing I’ve learned over the years is to never take a GWAR show lightly or think tonight’s the night they don’t decapitate, cut off body parts, smoke crack, or slice and dice their night away all while painting the sea of scumdogs red with someone else’s blood. This was another fantastic show in the books for GWAR as they continue to trek across America spreading their filth.
