GWAR

These legendary shock rockers from the depths of the Antarctica are back to Vancouver… and they are still sick of you.

GWAR, One of the most bizarre acts in all of Rock’n’roll is back to Vancouver at a SOLD OUT Vogue theatre (MRG Promotions) with support from Fuming Mouth and Cancer Bats.

There is a lot of people tonight wearing white tshirts in the first couple rows hoping to be drenched in fake blood and other human juices.  But the first song was dry with “Let Us Slay” from 2009’s Lust in Space.

Before starting the next song “Hail, Genocide!”, we get an introduction to Gwar’s newest member. 11 year veteran Brent Purgason who played as ‘Pustulus Maximus’ left the band in November of 2023 and now Tommy Meehand is the new lead guitarist as ‘Grodius Maximus’.   So, it will be interesting to see if that makes a twist to any future Gwar music.   There are some slight changes to costume with him, but not too dramatic.

“I, Bonesnapper” is up next and we get a rare song with Bonesnapper (Bob Gorman) taking the mic and singing this one.  Not bad! We also see Grodius jump into the Photo pit area, and greet fans as he played which was different.

One of the best songs from The Dark Ages “Mother Fucking Liar” we get a surprise guest on stage with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and he is beating Palestinian children on stage.  Of course he gets his face ripped off and shooting blood streams all over the adoring audience.

The blood quenching doesn’t stop, with a teen getting totally mutilated as well as a strange human walking insect.   Everything of GWAR that you hear about starts to come to reality and that is what the 1,280 fans are here for.  I asked one fan and he said “we are not here for the music, I mean, does anyone know any of the songs?”.  Right before “Completely Fucked” from The New Dark Ages album, one fan VIP got to be sliced onstage as well, what an honor!

At song 12 with “Battle Lust”, we get more political satire with another special guest with President Biden does his “Sleepy Joe” as he is drifting around the stage looking for Hunter Biden’s laptop.  Needless to say, Biden is decapitated and his corpse is spraying blood from the neck wound.

One thing I did observe at this show as compared to others that I have attended over the previous 20 years or so is that the stage setup has gradually experienced less and less theatrical props.  I remember back in 2015, the year after the illustrious Dave Brockie passed away 10 years ago (March 23 2014) , the stage was with LED screens etc.  Not so much now, as I am sure present day touring budgets are biting into that.  How they make room for all these costumes and blood tanks on the tour bus is another thing.  But to see it all work live is pretty impressive.

Lead singer Blothar keeps up with the times however, as he and the Blue Platypus who is now A.I. character, has the little blue creature perform oral sex on him, “if that is what you want” says A.I.  So yes, if you are the least bit offended, GWAR is not the show to go to, but the hilarity of this band is just so endearing.

“Sick of You” at song 16, I think this video from MTV is when this band really got recognized.  I will never forget the part near the end of the song when they are herding audience members into a pit.   Would love to see that live!

These intergalactic warriors were just here in the fall of 2022, what is any different to this show?  There haven’t been any new albums since 2022’s The New Dark Ages (which is very good I might add).   Let me remind you that in 2022 they leaned really hard on that album on the song list, as they had played 8 songs from it.  Tonight, they played 5 (“Berserker Mode”, “The Cutter” and 2 we didn’t hear last time “Completely Fucked” and “Starving Gods (Death Whistle Suite)”.

The end the night at song 18 appropriately with “Fuck this Place” from the 2017 album (without Brockie) “The Blood of Gods”.   It can be argued (at least in my opinion) that some of the better and catchier songs from all of GWAR are from the latest 2 albums.  But like I mentioned before, we all know what this crowd is really attracted to, and it’s the combination of hardcore metal and the crowd interaction with the blood filled madness that comes along with it.  Would you expect anything else from a GWAR show?  Believe me, if you were in the front 10 rows, you looked like you had a impromptu visit to Abbatoir and gleefully enjoyed it.