(Live Review) GWAR + GOATWHORE - The Forge in Joliet, June 7/22

Mark McQueen

A good crowd for a Tuesday ... The Forge was packed. The Beard is glad he got a seat. There is a pillar partially blocking the view, but still better than general admission. Especially for GWAR.

Johnny however is down in the thick of it. Go get ‘em little man. Just remember it IS GWAR.

I got the big man, Greg (The Big Buffet) Hulke (fresh from his stint in the WWE) hanging with me.

Kind of like Fezzick from “Princess Bride.” Keep the heathen off me big man.

On to the show:

THE NATIVE HOWL

With all the GWAR and Goatwhore stuff, these guys had about three feet of space to perform.

From Detroit Michigan , kind of eclectic, acoustic and electric rockabilly metal. Like GWAR, they were straddling multiple genres at once. Good synchronization and when a banjo can get a metal crowd going, you are doing something. I will afford them an 80/100 for originality.

80/100

NECROGOBLIKON

Okay, lyrically kind of death/thrash but, hey, they actually have a goblin, so you got to appreciate that. One of their merch t-shirts actually says on it, “We have a Goblin.” Little Johnny is a bit freaked out. Wait until GWAR hits the stage buddy. Okay rock on with the death/thrash.

Whoosh…Little Johnny just crowd surfed by on the main floor. “Stay away from the Goblin Johnny.”

Although actually (style aside) the band wasn’t bad. Decent ability to change up. Still, this was a 76 that got pushed to an 82 mostly because of the goblin.

82/100

GOATWHORE

The Beard has seen them many times and they always bring it hard. Little Johnny will get a workout in the pit on their set. Goatwhore are black metal meets speed metal.

Semi legible lyrics (after having seen them a half dozen times). Goatwhore are pure aggression unleashed on stage for an hour. Not as good as a couple other sets I’ve seen (notably Vegas last year). Still a solid performance in a smaller venue. 85/100

85/100

GWAR

GWAR has to really be seen to be understood.

Space alien monsters sent to enslave or destroy Earth. GWAR makes fun of everyone and everything, and the blood and gore is endless, as their show is a mass killing spree.

First, a decapitation of Joe Biden. Next up, the Governor of Georgia was executed. Several others including Putin and the premier of China would feel the wrath of the cosmic invaders known as GWAR.

And I’ll spare everyone the toilet plunger abortion scene. Just know anywhere within 50 feet of a GWAR show and you will leave covered in some kind of fluid.

87/100

A lovely blood-soaked evening. Johnny will be riding home strapped to the top of the car, sticky mess that he is. The big man grabbed a couple of t-shirts from the merchandise tables, then steamrolled a path for the Beard to successfully escape the chaos sans blood and “other” GWAR generated fluids.

A fun and full evening.