GWAR
December 6, 2014
Atlanta, GA – The Masquerade
Saturday night’s GWAR show here in Atlanta almost had the vibe of a memorial for a fallen friend. Matter of fact, the more I think about it, it totally was just that. GWAR fans filed into the Masquerade and lined up to get their GWAR merch (including the popular Hail Oderus! Memorial shirt which I myself got), to take in a night that many (myself included) thought might never be. After getting my overpriced Coca Cola served to me without a smile, I tweked it with a few nips from the flask and found the perfect place in the room with a clear view of the stage.
The night kicked off with two fantastic opening acts. The first band, American Sharks delivered a short and sweet powerhouse set of skate punk influenced rock n’ roll and I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. The crowd really dug them quite a bit and I found them to be totally engaging with their witty stage banter and hyperactive/spastic sort of stage presence. When NC’s legendary Corrosion of Conformity hit the stage, all hell just broke loose. These guys are fucking legends in their own right and for 45 minutes they owned shit in a huge way with a high octane set of punk infused metal. This was the first time I had seen this lineup and I have to say that after their set I found myself saying, “Who the fuck needs Pepper Keenan?” I mean, I get that he’s a high profile member but seriously. This line up is so fucking good that say, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” I’m sure we’ll see his return soon but I don’t think they fucking need him at all.
After COC’s facemelting set, I made my way through the crowd to meet up with some fellow readers and, much like one would do at a memorial, found myself exchanging GWAR stories from shows past. The memories were great ones and most of the time absolutely hilarious ones. We high fived, had a few drinks and bonded over the common thread that truly brought us all together: our love and our respect for GWAR. After the shocking and sad passing of GWAR leader, founding father, and songwriter Dave “Oderus Urungus” Brockie this year, fans were left wondering if there could be a GWAR without Oderus at the mic. GWAR put that frame of thought to rest at this year’s GWAR BQ by introducing Blothar (original Beefcake the Mighty, Mike Bishop) as the beast that would be taking the mic. His performance with GWAR was a huge hit with fans but how would this translate out on the road to the masses?
The house lights went down as Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs” filled the air. This had everyone totally riled up and singing and then once the song came to an end, we were presented with the Magic Mirror on stage. The Magic Mirror presented a message from long time GWAR manager Sleazy P. Martini who announced that even with the passing of GWAR’s leader we would still be able to see him perform with the band one last time. With that, the band kicked into “Fly Now” from Battle Maximus featuring Oderus Urungus himself in the mirror singing lead vocals as his band of Scumdog brothers just killed us on stage. It was like seeing Oderus coming to us live via satellite as he sang:
“Oh won’t you come with me
To the place where angels fear to fly
We’ll ravage untold worlds
And split apart the sky
Oh yes there is a place
To make a devil cry
Oh won’t you come with me
To the place where legends never die.”
Those words just struck a chord with me and literally had the hair on my arms standing at full attention. Gwar couldn’t have picked a more suitable opening song. Suddenly, the Time Machine at the end of stage lit up and spit out the monstrous Blothar as GWAR kicked into “Madness at the Core of Time.” In my opinion, this was a perfect passing of the torch of sorts and Blothar was absolutely killing my face. His voice is so powerful and, in all due respect to the fallen master, he’s really a much stronger vocalist than Oderus was. The words were so clear and sung with so much power and conviction that you could tell that Blothar was sending every word back to Oderus himself as if to say, “I got this man. I got this.”
For the next hour and a half, GWAR would deliver a marathon set that seemed to dig really deep into the catalog and even pull out some lesser played classic songs like “Black and Huge”, “The Years Without Light”, and “The Horror of Yig” in addition to a healthy heap of later years GWAR. Hearing these classing songs alongside the newer matieral just proved to me just how timelessly awesome those songs are. The show also featured the arrival of new cummer Vulvatron whose gift is the ability to shoot blood from her tits for yards.
This dynamic was really great to see again. As a younger GWAR fan I always loved Slymenstra Hymen so this was a nice return to a classic pairing. She really brought some great dynamics vocally and it was awesome to see how her and Beefcake the Mighty (w/ Blothar on bass) took “Hate Love Songs” and turned it into a sort of violet “Paradise by the Dashboard Light” kind of thing. Bonesnapper fucking cracked me up with his dorky high pitched voice ripping out some classic thrash with “I, Bonsnapper.” His voice is so ridiculously hilarious it had us all dying but the highlight for me was when they pulled Oderus’ Cuttlefish of Cthulhu from the time machine and launched into “Saddam a Go-Go.”
Gwar closed the night out with an amazing “U Ain’t Shit” from Hell-O and returned for an encore that fucking litereally killed everyone. “The Road Behind” totally brought the house down and had everyone singing along. Hearing this song was a bittersweet ode to Oderus and it also reminded me what a great fucking song it is. Blothar then announced, “For the first time ever, the Pet Shop Boys song “West End Girls” will have a fucking slam pit.” With that said they launched into their cover of the song and closed out very fittingly with the Jim Carroll classic, “People Who Died.” What I did notice was that for the first time that I’m aware of, the band did not do “Sick of You” and you know what? I was totally fine with that. Maybe there was a strategic reason for that but this set list was so fucking good that honestly I didn’t even miss it. Hell, I didn’t notice it until I was writing this review.
GWAR really took a heartbreaking situation and made the most of it. They very well could have folded but they knew that not only would Oderus himself never want that, in reality neither would their fans. At the end of the day, they miss their fallen leader but realized the reality that GWAR was much bigger than any of their mortal shells could ever be. GWAR is an entity that means so much to so many and they figured that out and marched forward. The end result is the preservation of a legacy that very well should be preserved.
The show was fun, the banter was humorous and tasteless as always, and the band played with a lot of fire and more intensity than I feel I’d ever seen them play with. While In classic GWAR fashion, the theme of the show was satirical and made light of the passing of Oderus, you could feel that the them was in reality a much deeper theme that. These guys were truly missing their brother but the show went on and in all honesty went on to be my favorite GWAR show since 1995. It was a truly magical and moving show and it served as a reminder as to just why I love this crazy fucking band so much.
GWAR brought us all together and we celebrated the legacy of an old friend and toasted to what looks like will be a thriving future for GWAR. Blothar really held his own as the new frontman for GWAR. His banter was out of this fucking world and as over the top as you’d expect it to be from the new leader of GWAR. Blothar has solidified himself as the most suiting successor to the throne and after last night’s performance, I can honestly say that I will continue to pledge my allegiance to GWAR for many years to come. Rest easy, Oderus. Blothar is here and he’s doing a great fucking job. You can rest easy.
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