GWAR 30th anniversary tour arrives at Freebird Live
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Published by Sareth Ney on Sept. 10, 2015 at 7:02 p.m.
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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - GWAR celebrated with blood, sweat and 30 years at Freebird Live, on Sept. 10. They were the headliners, Battlecross was the opening act and Butcher Babies was the direct support.
Michael “Blothar” Bishop is the vocalist and bassist, Mike “Balsac the Jaws of Death” Derks is the rhythm guitarist, Bran “Jizmak Da Gusha” Roberts is the drummer and percussionist, Jamison “Beefcake the Mighty” Land is the bassist and Brent “Pustulus Maximus” Purgason is the lead guitarist of GWAR. Bob “Bonesnapper” Gorman, Matt “Sawborg Destructo” Maguire, Derks, Land and Purgason and Maguire also provide backup vocals.
Prior to GWAR beginning their showcase with “Crush, Kill, Destroy”, repeated chants of GWAR echoed throughout the venue. The stage darkened, lightning flashed on the screen next to Jizmak Da Gusha’s drums and a voice was heard telling the story of the band. Two characters appeared. One had a turntable and the other had a keyboard. They sang to the crowd, until GWAR arrived. The end would be near for the one holding the keyboard, as Blothar used a make-believe sword to stab him twice. At the end of the song, the character doused the crowd with artificial blood from his wounds.
Throughout the evening—social media, internet sites and cable news networks were mocked by Blothar, Beefcake the Mighty and the rest of GWAR. Prior to “Bloodbath”, Beefcake the Mighty proclaimed they achieved their goal and destroyed the Internet. He cited by having GWAR accomplishing the feat—there will be no more online trolls, people having their noses stuck onto screens, young girls will no longer be bullied and children growing up with an alternative lifestyle will not be pushed to suicide.
During ““Metal Metal Land”, GWAR left for their encore. They returned to the stage as the instrumental of Katy Perry’s “Roar” was heard. A mock version of Hilary Clinton appeared and a pretend version of Kanye West appeared to interrupt her, like he did to Taylor Swift. After the sketch, they continued with “Salaminizer” and ended with “Sick Of You”
“Madness at the Core of Time”, “Black and Huge”, “Saddam A Go-Go”, “Vlad The Impaler”, “Jack The World”, “I’m In Love (With A Dead Dog)”, “Bonesnapper”, “Baby Raper”, “Meat Sandwich”, “Captain Crunch”, “Let Us Slay”, “You Can’t Kill Terror”, “A Gathering Of Ghouls”/”Genocide”, and “A Short History Of The End Of The World” were also part of GWAR’s set.
Michael “Blothar” Bishop is the vocalist and bassist, Mike “Balsac the Jaws of Death” Derks is the rhythm guitarist, Bran “Jizmak Da Gusha” Roberts is the drummer and percussionist, Jamison “Beefcake the Mighty” Land is the bassist and Brent “Pustulus Maximus” Purgason is the lead guitarist of GWAR. Bob “Bonesnapper” Gorman, Matt “Sawborg Destructo” Maguire, Derks, Land and Purgason and Maguire also provide backup vocals.
Prior to GWAR beginning their showcase with “Crush, Kill, Destroy”, repeated chants of GWAR echoed throughout the venue. The stage darkened, lightning flashed on the screen next to Jizmak Da Gusha’s drums and a voice was heard telling the story of the band. Two characters appeared. One had a turntable and the other had a keyboard. They sang to the crowd, until GWAR arrived. The end would be near for the one holding the keyboard, as Blothar used a make-believe sword to stab him twice. At the end of the song, the character doused the crowd with artificial blood from his wounds.
Throughout the evening—social media, internet sites and cable news networks were mocked by Blothar, Beefcake the Mighty and the rest of GWAR. Prior to “Bloodbath”, Beefcake the Mighty proclaimed they achieved their goal and destroyed the Internet. He cited by having GWAR accomplishing the feat—there will be no more online trolls, people having their noses stuck onto screens, young girls will no longer be bullied and children growing up with an alternative lifestyle will not be pushed to suicide.
During ““Metal Metal Land”, GWAR left for their encore. They returned to the stage as the instrumental of Katy Perry’s “Roar” was heard. A mock version of Hilary Clinton appeared and a pretend version of Kanye West appeared to interrupt her, like he did to Taylor Swift. After the sketch, they continued with “Salaminizer” and ended with “Sick Of You”
“Madness at the Core of Time”, “Black and Huge”, “Saddam A Go-Go”, “Vlad The Impaler”, “Jack The World”, “I’m In Love (With A Dead Dog)”, “Bonesnapper”, “Baby Raper”, “Meat Sandwich”, “Captain Crunch”, “Let Us Slay”, “You Can’t Kill Terror”, “A Gathering Of Ghouls”/”Genocide”, and “A Short History Of The End Of The World” were also part of GWAR’s set.
GWAR with Butcher Babies and Battlecross Tour Dates:
Sept. 11 - Pop’s, Sauget, Ill.
Sept. 14 - The Chance, Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
Sept. 15 - Higher Ground, South Burlington, Va.
Sept. 16 - Reverb, Reading, Penn.
Sept. 17 - The Paramount, Huntingonton, N.Y.
Sept. 18 - Water Street Music Hall, Rochester, N.Y.
Additional GWAR Tour Dates:
Sept. 5 - Befuddled Fest at Rustic Frog, New Albany, Ind.
Sept. 12 - Riot Fest at Douglas Park, Chicago
Sept. 19 - Riot Fest at Downsview Park, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
GWAR with Born of Osiris and Battlecross Tour Dates:
Oct. 7 - Bogarts, Cincinnati
Oct. 8 - The Rave, Milwaukee
Oct. 9 - The Cabooze, Minneapolis
Oct. 10 - Garrick Centre, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Oct . 12 - O’Brian’s Event Centre, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
Oct. 13 - MacEwan Ballroom, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Oct. 14 - Union Hall, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Oct. 16 - Commodore Ballroom, Vancouver British Columbia, Canada
Oct. 17 - Knitting Factory, Spokane, Washington
Oct. 18 - Knitting Factory, Boise, Idaho
Oct. 19 - Roseland Theater, Portland, Ore.
Oct. 20 - Showsbox SODO, Seattle
Oct. 23 - Fremont Country Club, Las Vegas
Oct. 24 - Knotfest at San Manuel Amphitheater, San Bernardino, Calif.
Oct. 25 - The Regency Ballroom, San Francisco
Oct. 26 - Knitting Factory, Reno, Nev.
Oct. 28 - The Marquee, Tempe, Ariz.
Oct. 29 - Sunshine Theater, Albuquerque, N.M.
Oct. 30 - The Black Sheep, Colorado Springs, Colo.
Oct. 31 - Summit Music Hall, Denver
Nov. 2 - Canopy Club, Urbana, Ill.
Nov. 4 - Orbit Room, Grand Rapids, Mich.
Nov. 5 - The Vogue, Indianapolis
Nov. 6 - Harpo’s, Detroit
Nov. 7 - The Town Ballroom, Buffalo, N.Y.
Nov. 8 - Agora Theater, Cleveland
Nov. 9 - 9:30 Club, Washington
Nov. 11 - The Norva, Norfolk, Va.
Nov. 12 - Electric Factory, Philadelphia
Nov. 13 - Toad’s Place, New Haven, Conn.
Nov. 14 - The Palladium, Worcester, Mass.
Nov. 17 - The Orange Peel, Asheville, N.C.
Nov. 18 - Exit/In, Nashville, Tenn.
Nov. 19 - House of Blues, New Orleans
Nov. 20 - Gas Monkey Live, Dallas
Nov. 21 - Houston Whatever Fest at Warehouse Live, Houston
Nov. 22 - Scoot Inn, Austin, Texas
Nov. 24 - Tremont Music Hall, Charlotte, N.C.
Nov. 25 - The Masquerade, Atlanta
Nov. 27 - Revolution, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Nov. 28 - Venue 578 , Orlando, Fla.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sareth Ney is the entertainment journalist for A Quarter and Dream Pictures. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mass Communications and Center for New Media from Colorado State University-Pueblo. He is a former apprentice to master of horror, Clive Barker. He is known as the journalist/superhero, Wu-Man Chu, after meeting members of Wu-Tang Clan. He is an award-winning short filmmaker; his goal is to write 150 articles in select time zones, inducts artists into his hall of fame, founder and co-host of No Cover Podcast and is the festival director at Sareth-Fest Music, Comedy and Short Film Festival.
