Instead of watching Friends last night, I went to see Gwar. I tried and tried to get someone to go with me, but I couldn't scare up a brave enough soul to attend with me. No matter. You only live once, so I went alone. I met some guys in line and soon enough, we were drinking Crown Royal out of a bottle on the sidewalk while we waited to buy tickets.

Gwar hit the stage and said, "We are in town for two reasons, to play heavy metal and split some fucking skulls!" And with that, they began to rock.

It's hard to see since I was taking photos with my cameraphone. When I got closer to the stage, the shoving was so much I couldn't hold the cameraphone steady.

Everyone in the Gwar show is in costume and the stage performance is amazing. During the show, they killed Mike Tyson, Osama Bin Laden, George Bush, and the Pope on stage, covering the crowd in fake blood and other fluids. A large part of the show is the near continuous stream of colored liquid that Gwar sprays on the crowd. There are cannons of multi-color liquids sprayed on the crowd. Last night, the spray was reaching the balcony at the Whisky.

It may not seem like it makes a lot of sense, but once you go to a Gwar show, you understand. During the show, the crowd is united. We are in the thrall of Gwar. Arms raised in the air, mosh pit running, color everywhere, it is magnificent. Gwar takes control of the crowd and for the duration we are all mad for more blood, more killing, and digusting deaths on stage.

I couldn't stay till the end of the show, but I left happy.

A good time was had by all.

Here's what I looked like when I got home:

If Gwar comes to your town, you MUST GO SEE THEM.

Posted by michael at May 07, 2004 07:20 PM