Media and Trailers
GWAR Alpharetta Concert reviews
GWAR's amazing tribute to their fallen brother
I've seen GWAR two other times and they always put on an incredible show. The recent death of their lead guitarist Cory Smoot (aka Flattus Maximus) was a crushing blow, but they have continued their tour in tribute. Upon hearing this I traveled all the way from the Ft. Lauderdale area up to Tampa for their only Florida gig. I was accompanied by my best friend and my mother (yes I brought my mom to see GWAR, she's been wanting to go for years). The venue, Green Iguana Stadium, was awesome. The Green Iguana is a restaurant (fantastic burgers and excellent service) with an open courtyard adjacent to a motel. The stage was in this courtyard. It even had a swimming pool and a waterfall, which the bands commented on, lol.
As for the opening acts, I enjoyed a few moments here and there, but I was mostly just waiting for them to be over. Maybe I'll give them a listen sometime when I'm not urgently anticipating one of my favorite bands taking the stage. Warbeast seemed like pretty solid thrash. I'm not a fan of Every Time I Die because I generally don't like metalcore, but as I said I was focused so much on GWAR that I don't think I can be fair to the opening bands, so I will not judge either yet.
GWAR began with an ominous black-robed figure taking the stage. He said he was Death, and asked if anyone had the nerve to spend the night in his house. GWAR came onto the stage to challenge him, complete with trash talk, and then launched into their set. They played quite a few songs from their 2010 album "Bloody Pit of Horror" and the excellent 2009 "Lust in Space," a little from "Beyond Hell," "War Party," and "Violence Has Arrived," and of course some staples from "Scumdogs of the Universe." I was surprised by "Jagermonsta" from "We Kill Everything" because of the band's longstanding dislike of the album.
Naturally, in between (and during) songs, various characters did battle or were murdered on stage. First was a zombie, decapitated for our enjoyment, and spraying the first gouts of blood onto the crowd. The Jagermonsta appeared and wrought havoc before being defeated, Oderus holding its head up as a trophy. Bonesnapper the Troll presented GWAR with a gift: Snooki from "The Jersey Shore" tied to a rack, and during "Crack In the Egg" (one of my favorite GWAR songs) they disembowled her (I think she was supposed to be pregnant considering how much movement her organs were doing) while she kind of... danced along with her arms, still tied vertically to the rack. It was really funny how she seemed to be so INTO her own evisceration, like even she hated Jersey Shore so much she was overjoyed to die. Lol. Next up was the Necromancer and then Death came back, kept trying to steal the Biledriver (it was on a shopping cart, which Oderus joked about), and then was revealed to be Sawborg Destructo whom GWAR battled while performing "The UberKlaw," appropriate especially considering Sawborg's giant buzzsaw arm. They followed up with "Ham on the Bone" and "The Salaminizer," then returned for the encore of "Maggots," during which the World Maggot was revealed and a random female fan was pulled onstage and fed to it. They finished up with "Sick of You" as usual, only Oderus changed the song into a tribute to Flattus Maximus and an expression of gratitude to the fans. "I never thought I'd say this, but I love you all, I'm not sick of you," he said. The end of the song turned into everyone chanting "Flattus! Flattus! Flattus!" When they left the stage, Frank Sinatra's "My Way" began playing, and Cory's guitar sat on stage lit by a lone spotlight. We all fought our way up front to look at it, and at that moment I felt my throat close up again at the profound loss GWAR, the fans, and the metal community have suffered.
Sonically the show was great. The songs weren't exactly the same with a single guitarist, but Balsac the Jaws of Death is no slouch and he managed expertly. I will never get tired of watching him play, especially walking around the stage in that costume. I don't know how he can do it. The new bassist seems a solid choice as Beefcake, portraying the character consistently. Jizmak was hard to see behind his massive drum kit but he sounded fantastic. Oderus could have been turned up a little more, but I had an easier time hearing him during certain songs. Either way, the performance was riveting.
We did not get covered in anything because we were just out of range. We had no problems with getting soaked and were ready for it, but I was trying to keep my mom out of the mosh pit (I don't think I've ever typed that before). Considering we had a 4 hour drive back home I don't think it was so bad to stay dry, lol.
Altogether an amazing show and if I can catch them on their next tour I will definitely be going.