At Starland Ballroom In Sayreville, NJ on March 6th, 2024
Alright, there are some crazy heavy metal shows and then there is a GWAR show. Filled with creatures from different planet or dimension raining down all the craziness, fuss and blood (yeah blood) to all suspecting and unsuspecting fans. Slowly destroying the city-by-city GWAR supported by Cancer Bats and X-Cops plow forward with Age Of Befuddlement Tour. Fittingly on a rainy Wednesday night the carnage happened in Sayreville, NJ.
Written by Andris Jansons
Let’s start with the crowd. I was not surprised to see the Starland Ballroom pretty much at full capacity, though I was surprised to see fans of all ages. As GWAR is already a seasoned project that was started in Richmond, Virginia sometime in 1984 and you would expect older generation fans, though the next generations have bought in to the projects musical and theatrical aspects as well.
While I missed the X-Cops set I was able to witness the Canadian hardcore punk band Cancer Bats. Aggressive and electrifying, the set delivered all the thrills the fans expected. The set was fairly long as it lasted about an hour and included about thirteen songs. My favorite part was actually a cover of Sabotage, a Bestie Boys song. Not only I am huge Beastie Boys, but many have attempted to cover Sabotage with mixed results, and I believe Cancer Bats nailed it. Set also included their own biggest hits like Hail Destroyer, Bricks And Mortar and Lucifer’s Rocking Chair.
See full Cancer Bats photo gallery here.
Cancer Bats links
GWAR set was delayed for a very short moment as some technical malfunction caused a spilled “blood” on and around the stage. Which seemed to be rectified fairly fast. Not sure how I can correctly explain this – the bands music matches their image and theatrics or vice versa. Or the simplest explanation would be that they are in perfect harmony. That is why I will personally not differentiate their musical or theatrical performances, they are as one and should be enjoyed as one. There were some political themes, some may like them some may not, and there was a lot of fluids sprayed on the fans in the front rows. Overall for any heavy metal fan this is a must-see show, even if once in a lifetime, you have to see this, trust me.
Their setlist was as follows:
1. Battle-Lust
2. Hail, Genocide!
3. I, Bonesnapper
4. Mother Fucking Liar
5. I’ll Be Your Monster
6. The Cutter
7. Starving Gods (Death Whistle Suite)
8. Krosstika
9. Completely Fucked
10. Immortal Corrupter
11. Maggots
12. Let Us Slay
13. Sonderkommando
14. Crack in the Egg
15. Berserker Mode
16. Sick of You
17. Fishfuck
18. Fuck This Place
See full gallery of GWAR performance here.
GWAR links
The tour will go on till the end of the month and will finish in Baltimore, MD. See the list of scheduled performances below. Link for the tickets here:
March 09 – Montréal, QC @ Beanfield Theatre X
March 10 – Quebec City, QC @ Théâtre Capitole X
March 12 – London, ON @ London Music Hall X
March 13 – Grand Rapids, MI @ Intersection X
March 15 – Winnipeg, MB @ Park Theatre FM
March 16 – Saskatoon, SK @ Coors Event Centre FM
March 17 – Edmonton, AB @ Midway Music Hall FM
March 18 – Calgary, AB @ The Back Alley FM
March 20 – Vancouver, BC @ The Vogue Theatre FM
March 21 – Spokane, WA @ Knitting Factory FM
March 24 – Lawrence, KS @ Granada Theater FM
March 26 – Davenport, IA @ The Capitol Theater FM
March 27 – Pontiac, MI @ The Crofoot FM
March 28 – Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall FM
March 29 – Charlotte, NC @ The Underground FM
March 30 – Baltimore, MD @ Baltimore Soundstage FM
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