Photos and Review By Ryan Renger
It was a bloodbath in Des Moines, Iowa, when GWAR and their signature costumes rolled through Wooly's DSM. The Heavy Metal legends from Richmond, Virginia, are closing in on 30 years in the music industry, and as this show made evident, there is no slowing down! Their newest album, The New Dark Ages, dropped last year, and they have been on a tear! In addition to the current headlining tour, they just recently completed an opening spot on Mudvayne's summer tour, which certainly boosted GWAR's popularity.
The show was opened by a young and hungry Metal band, 200 Stab Wounds. Their vicious vocals and ferocious instrumentals have quickly taken the Metal community by storm. Their second album will be coming soon by way of Metal Blade Records and will for sure help cement them as one of the new mainstays in Metal.
On the stage next was a classic display of old-fashioned Shock-Rock. Crobot, hailing from Pennsylvania, rocked the stage for a wonderful set. The set opened with Electrified and electrified the crowd was jumping around and singing along with Brandon Yeagley! Yeagley was particularly invested in the crowd, making funny faces and all around having a grand time with those in the front row. More great Crobot songs rang through the venue, like Holy Ghost and Necromancer. Their set ended with a bang as they played Without Wings. Crobot is a great band that puts on a great performance and have big things ahead of them.
On the stage last was the band everyone was there to see. In their full regalia, GWAR took the Wooly's crowd for a roller coaster ride of moshing and head banging. The night started off heavily with Hail, Genocide! The blood also started early, with throats getting slit and beer bottles getting smashed. It is always an interesting experience seeing GWAR, as they put on a masterclass in live performance on every time they hit the stage. It is also interesting to see GWAR's fan base and how they relish in the mosh pits. The set continued on with more great costumes, including a replica of Russian President Vladimir Putin; this was the funniest costume of the night. More great songs like The Cutter, Krosstika, and Let Us Slay filled the setlist. The crowd surfers were also endless on the night, with dozens of people crossing over the heads of the crowd. The set kept a high energy all the way through the end, with the level of headbanging at the start being even more vicious at the end, as blood cannons raged on with a cover of ACDC's If You Want Blood(You Got It). GWAR proved with this show that their age has no bearing on the great show that they put on! They set out for the Age Of Imbeciles tour next month with support from Negative Approach, X-Corps, and Cancer Christ. Be sure to check it out!