GWAR at the Joy Theater in New Orleans

November 7, 2019

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Authored by: Amy Breaux

Sunday night turned into an unholy, bloody pit of metal when the scumdogs of the universe, the mighty GWAR, took over Joy Theater with their Use Your Collusion tour. If you’ve never been to a GWAR show, you need to. It’s a bucket list activity, fun for the whole family. And I say that because I saw kids as young as 5 at the show.

I hadn’t seen GWAR since the loss of their leader Oderus Urungus years ago and I was curious as to whether the aesthetic that made GWAR so unique was still there. Concerns were quickly washed away by the streaming blood from the first victim in GWAR’s continuous massacre against all things political and pop culture. Between birthing the unholy child of Kaitlyn Jenner to peeling the flesh from Donald Trump, they are still and always will be the masters of the humorous grotesque.

Playing a mix of old and new, leader The Beserker Blothar, guitarists Balsac the Jaws o Death and Pustulus Maximus, bassist Beefcake the Mighty, and drummer Jismak da Gusha along with their slaves Sawborg Destructo and Bonesnapper led the crowd on a nonstop, offensive gory night of joy and exuberance. I always loved GWAR shows because they were the one metal show where you see nothing but white t-shirts. And those t-shirts were not worn in vain. It was an almost nonstop stream of blood being hurled at the audience, who screamed with joy. As they finished “GWAR Theme” and left the stage the crowd chanted “GWAR! GWAR! GWAR!” until they came back for an encore. Blothar exclaimed, “You want blood? You got it!” as the band launched into an awesome cover of the AC/DC classic “If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It)”. When all was said and done and the scumdogs left to continue their reign of bloody terror across the United States, fans were laying in the pools of blood left on the floor of the Joy Theater, exhausted and happy and stained red for days.

GWAR Setlist: