thePULSEGWAR’s 25th Anniversary “Lust in Space” tour, with the Red Chord and Job For A Cowboy
By Jillian Locke
October 31 was an unseasonably warm night, and the sights and sounds of Halloween rang through the air, especially at The Palladium. Count Frylock, Alice in Wonderland, Little Red Riding Hood, even Jesus himself showed their costumed support at the 25th anniversary tour of none other than the blasphemous, odorous, kings of evil space-metal themselves, GWAR.
The Red Chord opened the show and christened the stage with a brutal onslaught of their ecstatic, erratic, and utterly brutastic attack. These Reveyah, MA natives dominated the stage for what felt like a very short time, making way for Phoenix, AZ’s, Job For A Cowboy. JFAC ran through a gamut of unrelenting tech-metal. JFAC drove their metal muscle from one devastating song to the next, pumping the crowd’s energy to the perfect level to welcome the night’s main metal course…
The lights went down, and a large projection screen began to play “GWAR, 25 Years Behind the Murder,” a mock VH1 Behind the Music episode. The almighty GWAR infiltrated the stage with thongs, spikes, pointy teeth, body odor, and more, thanks to front man Oderus Urungus, guitarist BalSac, the Jaws O’Death, drummer Jizmak Da Gusher, guitarist Flattus Maximus, and bassist Beefcake the Mighty.
Special guests included Cardinal Sin, SawBorg Destructo (who proceeded to the saw the sh*t out of an alien Zog and tear out his innards during the song “Where’s Zog,” one of the new tracks off Lust in Space), Cardinal Sin’s mutant alien baby, and a VERY special appearance by Michael Jackson himself (which Oderus enjoyed dearly, as he ripped the late pop-stars face right off his head, making way for screaming-green spray, spewing ferociously over the crowd). The crowd rushed the stage, mere earthlings eager to be covered with GWAR’s very sticky blasting spray.
The maniacal dismemberment that makes GWAR shows a glorious spectacle of murderous outer space mayhem commenced with the most violent and spectacular homicide of the night ~ Cardinal Sin, feebly attempting to wage war on his mutant enemies, was swiftly dismembered by Oderus Urungus himself, by way of both axe and sword. The final death spray of trademark spooge was unleashed on the already drowned crowd, thus closing an epic Halloween and an even more epic 25th anniversary performance by the one and only ghouls of the gore-tastic galaxy themselves, F*CKING GWAR!!!!!
