GWAR performed last night at The Newport in tribute to their fallen band mate, Flattus Maximus AKA Cory Smoot. Smoot passed away in November of 2011 of a heart attack. He was discovered by fellow band mate David Brockie, AKA Oderus Urungus while on tour.
I did not have a lot of expectations walking into this show. I knew there would be blood, dead babies, and random ramblings from lead-singer, Oderus Urungus but what I was not prepared for, was the insane amount of blood and the surprising musicianship from the band members. Again, with no expectations, except from what I saw on YouTube, I knew blood would not trickle out of the gory apparatus, but I was not prepared for the sheer amount of blood as well as the violent way it came shooting out of such characters from what seemed was a zombie Nazi doctor, a damned dinosaur, and of course, Snooki. “Snooki”, who was wheeled out, was torn to pieces. She then swung her 2-headed baby with the umbilical cord still attached to her. I don’t need to mention the gallons of blood squirting on the crowd in the process.
I couldn’t understand a word of what Oderus Urungus sung, but it was as if the Devil gave him orders to rattle off his evil deeds to the underlings of Earth, humans. I was really impressed by bassist Jamison Land AKA Beefcake the Mighty. Running notes consistently throughout each song were played with ease, and even as he danced around during the set. Drummer Brad Roberts, AKA Jizmak Da Gusha made really good use of the double bass, which can make a mundane song intense as hell.
While searching the internet for videos and articles on GWAR, I found a song called “Hail, Genocide”. My musical tastes are pretty wide, and I found myself enjoying the hell out of this song. Who knew a song about the horrors of genocide could be so good? I waited for GWAR to play the song, but was sourly disappointed.
The crowd was diverse. There were children as young as six or seven sitting atop the shoulders of their protective fathers. I saw a man who was at least 60, wearing a shirt exclaiming himself as a “GWAR virgin”, crowd-surfing, and the little girls smiling in the midst of blood, killing, and scripted chaos.
I was also surprised that the band played continuously (for a little over an hour) without as much as a sip of water throughout the whole set. Urungus described The Newport as “The number one fucking GWAR venue of all time”.
The encore played tribute to Cory Smoot AKA Flattus Maximus, a character that has since been retired. In true GWAR fashion, Urungus sang a song dedicated to Smoot while holding his penis. Towards the end of the song, smoke came out, and then blood. A true metal tribute indeed. “27 fucking years for Flattus Maximus”, boomed Urungus.
The show was bloody and a definite must see at least once. Without hesitation, I know I will be in attendance of the next GWAR show.
