Last week I interviewed Blothar the Berserker, lead singer of Gwar; you can read that interview here

As I waited near the stage for the GWAR show to start, I saw an image that was a hint of the juvenile humor to come: sex dolls being thrown around in the crowd like beach balls. The dolls jumped up and down as the rain poured. I struggled to get a great photo of it. It was hard to accurately capture the stupid joy of a blowup doll flying through the air over hundreds of fans.

GWAR eventually took the stage, and I stood between the barrier with the other photographers and tried to capture the absurd act performed mere feet in front of us. The 5-piece band was dressed, as always, in elaborate costumes that made them appear as intergalactic warriors. I can’t play any instruments, but I know it’s hard. I can’t imagine it’s much easier with large, bulky costumes on, but GWAR did it and made it look easy. A lot of people (myself included) are attracted to GWAR for their profane and elaborate performances, but I feel like their musicianship should be mentioned before I list off all the people they murdered. These guys sounded great and are incredibly tight live. I genuinely think it would be a fantastic show without any of their silly gimmicks

Almost immediately, the camera got covered in blood. GWAR is already a wet band, and being outside while it’s raining only amplified that. I’d say they’re the second wettest band, only behind Insane Clown Posse, who spend their entire concerts shooting Faygo over the crowd. (I’d love to interview them, so if someone knows Shaggy 2 Dope or Violent J, please get in contact with me.) The liquids being shot over the crowd proved to be a problem when I was in a mosh pit. Blood shot me directly in the eyes and covered my glasses. This effectively blinded me as I got aggressively pushed around in a large sweaty crowd.

During the opening song they brought out someone dressed like Elon Musk and chopped his head off. Blood squirted into the faces of adoring fans like a fountain. After that was Trump, who had his fat stomach ripped off. These costumes look great, but in a way that in no way is scary or upsetting, it's all very silly. A couple of songs into the show a very large “Taylor Swift” came on stage. There was a tasteful back and forth where she accused one of the band members of getting her pregnant but he claimed they did have sex “but only in the butt”. She then pulled out a football from a gigantic vaginal cavity and had her breasts ripped off while the band sang a song titled “Slap U Around” which is about domestic violence. It was one of the most unhinged things I have ever seen at a concert. I’m sure reading this makes it sound vile, and it is, but sometimes things are so gross and stupid that it loops back around to being fun.

Toward the end, they brought out their pet dinosaur, Gor Gor, who tried to eat Blothar. In return, Blothar stabbed it to death(?), which I found to be the most upsetting moment of the entire night. They ended and came back for a two-song encore, one was about cats, and the finale was their most popular song, “Sick of You” which was a blast to get shoved around during. As they played this, they shot green goo over everything. It was awesome! When I got home I looked in the mirror and realized I was absolutely covered in fake blood, and even after a long shower, my hands were stained red for a couple of days. This was not a problem to me and only served as a reminder of the fun I had seeing GWAR.