Gwar - Ventura, CA - 10/8/22
The Scumdogs of the Universe Gwar released their fifteenth album titled The New Dark Ages on June 3, 2022. It's the band's second album since the passing of Gwar's leader, Dave Brockie aka Oderus Urungus. Gwar has carried on without any of their original members. Gwar are back on the road to unleash carnage upon their unsuspecting fans, aka Bohabs. They announced The Black Death Rager tour and it featured Nekrogoblikon and Crobot. The stop on this tour was the Majestic Ventura Theater in Ventura, California. A Gwar show was the perfect way to spend a Saturday night.
The lights went out and a nicely packed venue cheered with excitement and the fans chanted, "Gwar! Gwar!". A "fan" came out on stage to talk to the audience. Not too long later, the members of Gwar made their way to the stage. The fan looked scared as he was surrounded by such grotesque creatures. One of the band members came up from behind and, with the swing of his sword, decapitated the fan. The head came off and started spraying blood (water with red dye) at the audience. Liquid being sprayed at the audience is the spectacle at a Gwar. It's probably the only metal show you could go to where you'll see a lot of fans wearing white shirts. The reason for that? Fans wear white shirts so that they're specifically targeted to be sprayed as well as have the shirt be completely different colors by the time the show is over. Gwar started their show with a song from the new album called The Cutter. Fans naturally went wild with mosh pits and crowd surfers. The music itself is a blend of metal and punk rock. The band members would terrorize each other during songs and in between songs making it for a partial comedy show. Gwar would bring out the big hits as they played popular songs like Saddam a Go-Go, Black and Huge and Bring Back the Bomb. Fans loved being sprayed with blood and otherworldly liquids that would cover fans and turn them different colors. Gwar's arsenal of characters included soldiers, mutans, monsters and even a Biden vs Trump fight. All ended up spraying the audience as if they were at a water park. The show came to an end with None but the Brave. Gwar left the stage, and all seemed quiet. The fans kept chanting "Gwar! Gwar!" and after a small break, Gwar came back out to continue punishing their fans. The first encore was their most popular song, Sick of You. To properly send off the audience, Gwar played Fuck This Place to show their disdain for the human race. As Gwar finished up their set and left, you could see puddles of liquid on the floor. Fans were drenched and their clothes were of different colors. Still, they were happy and smiling. Hopefully Gwar come back again to punish their Ventura fans again.
Photos and review by Misael Ruiz
