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08/30/15 Lawrence, KS Granada Theatre
Read More08/31/15 Tulsa, OK Cain's Ballroom 09/01/15 San Antonio, TX Alamo City Music Hall 09/02/15 Baton Rouge, LA Varsity Theatre 09/03/15 Mobile, AL Soul Kitchen 09/04/15 Birmingham, AL Iron City 09/05/15 Befuddled Festival 09/06/15 Winston-Salem, NC Ziggy's 09/08/15 Wilmington, NC Ziggy's By The Sea 09/09/15 Jacksonville, FL Freebird Live 09/10/15 Chattanooga, TN Track 29 09/11/15 Sauget, IL Pop's 09/12/15 Riot Fest (Chicago, IL) 09/14/15 Poughkeepsie, NY The Chance Theatre 09/15/15 South Burlington, VT Higher Ground 09/16/15 Reading, PA Reverb 09/17/15 Huntington, NY The Paramount 09/18/15 Rochester, NY Water Street Music Hall 09/19/15 Riot Fest (Toronto, ON) 10/07/15 Cincinnati, OH Bogart's 10/08/15 Milwaukee, WI The Rave 10/09/15 Minneapolis, MN The Cabooze 10/10/15 Winnipeg, MB Garrick Centre 10/12/15 Saskatoon, SK O'Brian's Event Centre 10/13/15 Calgary, AB MacEwan Hall Ballroom 10/14/15 Edmonton, AB Union Hall 10/16/15 Vancouver, BC Commodore Ballroom 10/17/15 Spokane, WA Knitting Factory 10/18/15 Boise, ID Knitting Factory Concert House 10/19/15 Portland, OR Roseland Theater 10/20/15 Seattle, WA Showbox SoDo 10/23/15 Las Vegas, NV Fremont Country Club 10/24/15 Knotfest 10/25/15 San Francisco, CA Regency Ballroom 10/26/15 Reno, NV Knitting Factory 10/28/15 Tempe, AZ The Marquee 10/29/15 Albuquerque, NM Sunshine Theatre 11/02/15 Urbana, IL Canopy Club 11/04/15 Grand Rapids, MI Orbit Room 11/05/15 Indianapolis, IN The Vogue 11/06/15 Detroit, MI Harpos Concert Theatre 11/07/15 Buffalo, NY The Town Ballroom 11/08/15 Cleveland, OH Agora Theatre
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I drove four hours back to Des Moines, Iowa just to get doused in fake blood. Oh yeah, I get to spend some time with my family when I'm down here too. But more importantly... I drove down here for GWAR!
It's hard to put a Gwar show into words. It's like no other show I've ever seen in my life. It's amazing enough to make me travel the four hours down to Des Moines and put up with this godforsaken town for a whole weekend just so I could experience Gwar's live show for the umpteenth time.
Gwar is one of the few bands that I go to see solely because of their show, not the music. I have to be honest with you, I hate their music. I understand that they are legendary and everything but I just don't get the music. I feel like my parents when I listen to Gwar on CD because after a song or two, they all sound the same and they are just loud.
It's the live show that I live for. Gwar has never let me down. I wish that I was able to see Gwar perform every Friday just to help me unwind from a stressful work week. What makes it so amazing? It's the costumes, it's the fake blood, it's the theatrics, it's everything (except the music).
Gwar is the only show where I actually plan out what I'm wearing in advance. I have to make sure that I have my worst jeans on. Make sure I have my "show shoes" with all the holes in them. I have to make sure I have a crisp white t-shirt to wear. It's the only metal show where majority of the crowd will have a white t-shirt on. The reason? Wear a white t-shirt, get in the "splash zone" and wah-lah, you have a free souvenir concert t-shirt without paying the $25. Call me a Jew if you want, but I'd rather have my personalized souvenir shirt for free than pay for a generic tour t-shirt.
These guys come out on the stage and instantly own it. They are dressed in giant costumes made out of everything from fur, to metal, to body paint, to inflatable antlers... everything. I think it would be so awesome to be their costume designer. Their characters fill up more than the stage, they fill up the whole venue. Yeah, it's just an act, but it's not hard to lose yourself in their act and start thinking that you are truly on another planet and part of a race war with some extraterrestrial life-form.
It doesn't matter if you like metal music or not. The second the cold spray of the fake blood hits you, you're having a great time. It starts as just a thin spray from some alien lifeform being decapitated. As the show progresses, the fake blood, and other bodily fluids, seems to flow like the beer flowing non-stop out of the taps of the bar.
The thing with Gwar is they are all about the theatrics behind a show. They don't care who they piss off. I've seen Gwar "kill" everyone from George W. Bush to Justin Bieber. Last night, the victims were Hillary Clinton and a Fox News anchor. How do they "kill" them? Basically, they have someone wearing a mask with fake body parts that can be cut off and used to squirt blood on the crowd. (Use your imagination, I'm not going there in this blog). Then outcome the big foam weapons that are used to kill the celebrities. Sounds dumb, I know. Sounds cheap, I know. But the way they do these "stunts" with such conviction and heart, that's what makes the cheesiness of it all okay.
Gwar is definitely the top live band I have ever seen, and that is truly saying something.
It's hard to put a Gwar show into words. It's like no other show I've ever seen in my life. It's amazing enough to make me travel the four hours down to Des Moines and put up with this godforsaken town for a whole weekend just so I could experience Gwar's live show for the umpteenth time.
Gwar is one of the few bands that I go to see solely because of their show, not the music. I have to be honest with you, I hate their music. I understand that they are legendary and everything but I just don't get the music. I feel like my parents when I listen to Gwar on CD because after a song or two, they all sound the same and they are just loud.
It's the live show that I live for. Gwar has never let me down. I wish that I was able to see Gwar perform every Friday just to help me unwind from a stressful work week. What makes it so amazing? It's the costumes, it's the fake blood, it's the theatrics, it's everything (except the music).
Gwar is the only show where I actually plan out what I'm wearing in advance. I have to make sure that I have my worst jeans on. Make sure I have my "show shoes" with all the holes in them. I have to make sure I have a crisp white t-shirt to wear. It's the only metal show where majority of the crowd will have a white t-shirt on. The reason? Wear a white t-shirt, get in the "splash zone" and wah-lah, you have a free souvenir concert t-shirt without paying the $25. Call me a Jew if you want, but I'd rather have my personalized souvenir shirt for free than pay for a generic tour t-shirt.
These guys come out on the stage and instantly own it. They are dressed in giant costumes made out of everything from fur, to metal, to body paint, to inflatable antlers... everything. I think it would be so awesome to be their costume designer. Their characters fill up more than the stage, they fill up the whole venue. Yeah, it's just an act, but it's not hard to lose yourself in their act and start thinking that you are truly on another planet and part of a race war with some extraterrestrial life-form.
It doesn't matter if you like metal music or not. The second the cold spray of the fake blood hits you, you're having a great time. It starts as just a thin spray from some alien lifeform being decapitated. As the show progresses, the fake blood, and other bodily fluids, seems to flow like the beer flowing non-stop out of the taps of the bar.
The thing with Gwar is they are all about the theatrics behind a show. They don't care who they piss off. I've seen Gwar "kill" everyone from George W. Bush to Justin Bieber. Last night, the victims were Hillary Clinton and a Fox News anchor. How do they "kill" them? Basically, they have someone wearing a mask with fake body parts that can be cut off and used to squirt blood on the crowd. (Use your imagination, I'm not going there in this blog). Then outcome the big foam weapons that are used to kill the celebrities. Sounds dumb, I know. Sounds cheap, I know. But the way they do these "stunts" with such conviction and heart, that's what makes the cheesiness of it all okay.
Gwar is definitely the top live band I have ever seen, and that is truly saying something.
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Gwar at Wooly's, Des Moines (27 Aug 2015) |
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