GOR GOR Strikes Back Tour: GWAR/ SOULFLY/ King Parrot
- Phantom Light Media
- Apr 22
- 5 min read
GWAR Floods The Hall With Blood Like a Scene From Carrie
There are some shows that will just stick with you for the foreseeable future. A GWAR show should be one of those. April 15 (the dreaded tax day) at Treefort Music Hall was one of those for me. The evening started off cold and wet. Doors were delayed for unknown reasons, so the fans and myself waited in line through hail, rain thunder and lighting to get inside and begin this night. I couldn’t help but notice all the white clothes being worn to a metal concert. Knowing enough about GWAR shows up to this point it made sense. I couldn't help but think it looked like they were all dressed for a sacrifice or maybe…a baptism? Finally we were all inside warm but wet, excited to get this show going. Its not very often you're in the venue for a sound check but tonight was different due to unknown causes things got a delayed. So the first band of the night with whom I am familiar with, had their sound check during doors. King Parrot out of Melbourne, Australia opened the night for us. I was really excited for them and excited to get to photograph them on a different stage this time. I saw and photographed them when they opened for Pantera in West Salt Lake this past fall and was impressed with them then. This time I was even more impressed. Matt Young has a presence on stage that any band would find hard to compete with. He brings his powerful vocals along with an incredible sense of his fans. Having fun calling them out for wearing ear muffs at the barricade to getting them to form a wall of death half way through the set. One of the better ones I have seen. He doesn’t forget about you when he is up on stage and Boise brought all the energy they could for their set. It really set the bar high for the night and it was going to be broken and bloodied before its all done. I will happily catch a King Parrot show every chance I can.
Next up we had SOULFLY, a Brazilian-American band from Phoenix, AZ. They brought us their groove metal sound. Formed 1997, for me this was the first time seeing them and think hearing their music. I am happy I got to be there to hear them. Max Cavalera front man and rhythm guitar has impressive vocals and a commanding presence on stage. The bassist throwing in a few jumps which is always fun to try and catch on camera. The lead guitarist Mike DeLeon was in the zone tearing it up for the crowd was some impressive head banging and hair flips. Let’s not forget the drummer Zyon Cavalera (son of Max) keeping them in time and thrashing the skins Some of my favorite shots came from this band. Letting their groove metal put on a show under the red lights of the hall. There wasn’t a fan in the room that wasn’t there for it.
Now, I know of the gore, I know of the politics, I know the music and I knew this was going to be just as much a performance full of props and theatrics as it was going to be a concert. Honestly though I still didn’t know what to expect. I’d soon find out though. I had friend show up on my extra ticket who had no clue who GWAR was and by the end of the night they would have new fan.
When they rolled GOR GOR’s egg out on stage I was absolutely getting excited. Camera in hand pocket full lens cloths, I was prepared for the blood bath. For two of us in the barricade it was our first GWAR live performance. For myself, I'll never forget it. Shortly after the egg, the alien handler came out on stage followed by the band. After a short speech, he had his mask removed by Bonesnapper giving us our first taste of blood for the night. This was also the first time I got showered in it and I think it was hilarious.
Over all, the theatrics from GWAR is absolutely stunning. The props and decorations are on point for the show. Through out the night they would bring out various political characters and let them play their comedic part and then bam and bam and bam they would execute them. From cutting an ICE agent in half to beheading former president Clinton after a short sax solo (song by Tom Capello) from The Lost Boys (My favorite movie). My favorite character was GOR GOR, I was impressed as to how fast he grew. Time must be slower on his planet. Thank you to Maggotgrace for giving me a close view of his chompers. Great sculpting across the board for the costumes.
Towards the end of the show I went and stood with friends getting ever more excited when they would bring the different characters out like the current President, former head of homeland security, a dirty Catholic priest all of which were executed in an over the top manner for the crowds pleasure and I would take snaps here and there of fans getting showered in their blood. After a Large battle between adult GOR GOR we moved to the encore. Which was another part I was looking forward too and most of the crowd was too. This was when they performed their recently gone viral version of Chappell Roans Pink Pony Club. Oh how beautiful it was, also Blothar the Berserker was lactating blood I guess he gets pretty excited about it too. This was followed by the final blood bath and my friends, my self and my cameras were not safe from it. When the lights came up and the crowd cleared out and my camera gear was wrapped up and almost put away I took a look at the mess it was impressive. I was happy to have been there for it.
One, thing I came to realize from this show was the the music alone will never be the same for me. It’s not often this happens. The show GWAR put on seems like something straight from Heavy Metal the movie(the original) meets Broadway…well its alley and it’s amazing. So whenever I am listening to Gwar there will be something missing and its the performance that comes with it.
Photos & Review By: Justin Webb
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