Review: GWAR Slays Multiple Presidents in Bloodbath Concert

"KILL HIM!!! C'mon, bash his head in!!!"

The feverish squeal came from a chubby, round-faced pipsqueak behind me who couldn't have been past eleven years old. His blond hair was plastered to his head with sweat, and he was pumping his fists while GWAR ripped the head off Abraham Lincoln, blood piping out over the roaring crowd.

No one else seemed perturbed that a child was at the Summit for the fortieth-anniversary tour of the shock-rock band, which is known for beheading and generally slaughtering characters that cross its stage; in fact, there were a number of kids there. GWAR is considered a creative collective, in a way, so I suppose it's never too early to get kids into the arts — even if the artists have such names as Blöthar the Berserker, Beefcake the Mighty, Balsac the Jaws of Death, Grodius Maximus, Sawborg Destructo, Bonesnapper and Jizmak Da Gusha. The night began with sets from Squid Pisser, whose vocalist/guitarist Tommy Meehan is the latest GWAR recruit as Grodius Maximus, and Dark Funeral, whose frontman led cringe repetitions of "Hail Satan," which came across as edgy as a wooden spoon. (I couldn't help but think of the boys attempting to be edgelords at my Catholic middle school.) As we waited for GWAR to begin, the audience was treated to a Rick Roll with the speakers playing "Never Gonna Give You Up," followed by the King of the Hill soundtrack, Miley Cyrus's "Party in the USA" and LMFAO's "Party Rock Anthem."

Of course, it wasn't long before things got dark. GWAR thundered on stage and wrought a storm of metal music. The venue was completely stuffed with fans in white T-shirts and even wedding dresses, ready for the band to make its mark with blasts of fake blood and other bodily fluids (that's also why the staff was wearing rain ponchos and the speakers and walls were covered in plastic). People crowdsurfed from the back of the venue to the front, where they were caught over the rail by the staff, then ran around to do it all over again. It would be shocking if it weren't expected. Back in 2022, the band cut off Vladimir Putin's nipples with an axe, beheaded a MAGA fanatic and conducted an "abortion" with a plunger. At this stage, it's more a question of whether GWAR can make its killings any more repelling. You can only get so creative with gore, to the point that it simply becomes a trope and is laid bare for what it is: a desperate plea for attention.

And with its pointed, sophomoric humor, GWAR gets attention. Not everyone thinks it's funny, though. Case in point: a cop glaring at the musicians while he took a video of its demons dismembering George Bush as they told dumb 9/11 jokes (and made well-deserved fun of the band 311).
But GWAR has always been political; it even has its own party, the War Party, which kicked off in 2004 with an album of the same name. Back in 1992, it made its stance clear with the record America Must Be Destroyed. Not surprisingly, this hasn't been taken well by some.

You'd think it would be "canceled" by now, but GWAR has refuted all attempts. At a September 1990 show, Oderus Urungus — played by original guitarist Dave Brockie, who died in 2014 — showcased an enormous Cthulu strap-on, leading to Brockie's arrest for obscenity. The police took the giant penis for evidence, and the group was banned from performing in North Carolina for a year under the order of a judge named Dick Boner (yes, that was actually his name).
The Overton Window ordinarily is used in the political sphere, describing how policies adapt to public perception of concepts that were previously not deemed "normal." We're humans, so we all have varying abilities to adapt to the world around us and change our ideas of what is acceptable. Those who don't are left with pearls to clutch and a sense of ostensible moral superiority.

But when it comes to shock rock, the Overton Window...well, it goes out the window. GWAR may as well have destroyed it and eaten the shards of glass, and that string of pearls you're clutching takes on a new meaning when this band's at the helm. What else is left to do but enjoy the heavy music and laugh? You can't cancel a band that power-washes criticism away with 100-gallon tanks of fake blood.

See photos from the Summit show below: Find more concerts on our concert calendar.