Gwar descended upon the humans of Milwaukee Friday at The Rave, and proceeded to drench everyone they could see in blood. Well, fake blood, but yo it was still messy. Very messy.
The band, who may or may not be aliens from outer space, performed their iconic roles of thrash metal monsters on the "Return Of The World Maggot" tour, and the concert was an epic slaughter.
Did I mention there was fake blood ? Fans were soaked to the skin as they were relentlessly pounded with blood cannons. It was, in a way, a larger-than-life experience that had me questioning my sanity as I went to occupy the photo pit before the show started. I was a site to see, wearing an orange rain poncho, my camera carefully wrapped in plastic. As I looked at the other photographers around me I just had to chuckle at the extremes concert photographers will go to just to get "the photo."
The leader of Gwar, to the best of my understanding, is Oderus Urungus. For being a reported 43 billion years old, the guy doesn't look that bad. He was, for lack of a better term, a bit exposed onstage, his giant phallus sort of, well, swinging in the wind. Did I mention that it too spewed blood onto the all too willing crowd ? Yeah, it spewed blood. Lots of blood.
Knowing damn well what was going to happen onstage last night, I was still a bit overwhelmed at times at the comedic hilarity of the entire situation. What's more amusing is that Gwar is fast approaching their 30th anniversary, a testament to the demand for their specific brand of comedy rock. Despite having had more than 15 members of the band come and go since 1984, nothing has prevented Gwar from throwing in the towel just yet.
Other noteworthy aliens onstage last night included Flattus Maximus on guitar, a rather bulky fellow who had shoulder pads made of dinosaur heads, Beefcake The Mighty on bass, who wore Roman style headgear and body armor, Balsac the Jaws of Death on guitar who has a sharp bear-trap device for a head, and Jizmak Da Gusha on drums who is a rather frightening monster dog creature.
There were a vast array of creatures and characters onstage over the course of the show, most of which were slaughtered and spewed in, you guessed it, blood.
Did I mention there was fake blood at the Gwar show?
