GWAR

Hard Rock Cafe on the Strip in Las Vegas presents… GWAR.

The Hard Rock Cafe had the walls, windows, and everything but the alcohol covered in sheets of plastic for the GWAR show this past week. Fans (and some curious people who didn’t know what they were in for) turned out en force, and the line wrapped down three flights of stairs and out the door to see the metal gore masters live in Vegas. Lots of black leather, lots of pierced…stuff, and a lot of excitement to see Gwar on this second leg of the tour, touted the ‘Return’ of the World Maggot Tour. The first leg of this tour the band suffered the tragic loss of GWAR guitarist Cory Flattus Maximus Smoot, but has continued on this spring and will through June.

Municiple Waste and Ghoul opened the show and got the crowd tuned up with a little blood and gore crowd spraying appetizer, but it was GWAR taking the stage that really set the place on fire and got the crowd surfing started full swing. Amidst chants of GWAR!!GWAR!!GWAR!! the band dived into Zombies, March!, as Odorus Urungus beheaded the first casualty of the night on stage and the bloodletting began…. Newbies tend to show up at GWAR the see the the blood and guts and the moshing, but for all their theatrics, costuming spectacle and over the top stage circus (to speak lightly) the band plays a tight, powerful set of classic thrash/metal hits.

GWAR played a 60 plus minute set and covered songs from throughout their lengthly career, including “Jagermonsta”, “Bring Back the Bomb” and my personal fave “Saddam a Go-Go”, and the crowd slipped and slid and moshed through the bloody mess. Babies were slaughtered, damsels fed to the Maggot, and more decapitation continued as the night progressed. GWAR played on as the massacre on stage continued with “Tormentor”, “Necromancer” and “Metal Metal Land” and finished the set with “Sick of You” before lurching off the stage….

GWAR came back for and encore of “The Road Behind” dedicated to Smoot, and had a final bloody powerhose spraydown for those left standing, who got drenched one last time before the show ended. It’s not really fun unless you go home looking like a blood soaked casualty. This is GWAR.

Check out their website for tour dates, merch, and… “swag” at http://www.gwar.net/