GWAR – Whitechapel – Iron Reagan – A Band of Orcs: Live at The Palladium, Worcester, MA

After my adventure in Richmond for the GWAR-B-QUE over the summer and the release of Battle Maximus (Metal Blade Records), I was curious to see what GWAR had in store for us on their current tour. A Band of Orcs were the first to invade the venue and proceed to lay waste to all in their path. A Band of Orcs is literally a band…Of Orcs. They have elaborate costumes and instruments made out of weapons and/or the bones of their victims. The crowd was really into it and the floor became a giant mass of writhing bodies as young and old a like got in touch with their more primal side. The cherry on top of an already impressive performance came in the form of vocalist Gogog’s hilarious attempts at engaging the audience. He was successful as he was greeted with applause after demanding that we “give them clap”.

Iron Reagan proved that they weren’t about to be outdone by their fantasy based tour mates when frontman Tony Foresta, of Municipal Waste fame, hauled a garbage can out on stage and threw it into the crowd. The can became a beach ball at a high school graduation before venue security was able to wrestle it out of a fan’s hands but that didn’t stop anyone from throwing the garbage around instead. The flying debris was soon joined by liquor bottles being launched from backstage. The chaos set the perfect stage for Iron Reagan’s brand of crossover thrash.The third band to play that evening was Knoxville, TN’s Whitechapel. I have never been much of a fan and seeing them live didn’t change my opinion. However, their drummer was interesting enough to keep my attention throughout most of their performance. However, I can’t tell you if that was because he was good or because I liked his tattoos. Either way, it was a nice intermission before the main event of the evening.

‘Madness at the Core of Time’ kicked off the start of GWAR’s set. A number of new Battle Maximus based creatures were included, most notably, Mr. Perfect.I usually find GWAR’s props adorable but Mr. Perfect was the first one to ever make me feel unnerved. He was masterfully crafted and masterfully creepy. We had a special celebrity guest join GWAR on stage, everyone’s favorite music industry meat puppet: Justin Bieber. In typical GWAR fashion, the Biebs was massacred for the crowd’s amusement and they ate it up! I don’t think even Snooki’s demise was so well received.

Predictably, the set list focused primarily on songs from Battle Maximus but included some gems such as ‘Jack the World’ and ‘The Salaminizer’. The fan favorite ‘Sick of You’ made an appearance as expected. GWAR wrapped things up with their superb mashup of Billy Ocean’s ‘Get Out of My Dreams, Get into My Car’ and The Who’s ‘Baba O’Riley’. Fans who stuck around after the show were treated to frontman Dave Brockie reading passages from a book on Blackbeard the Pirate. All in all, it was a great show and I’m looking forward to seeing them again in December.