Lamb of God and Gwar @ The Wellmont Theater 9/22/09

Tuesday night, September 22, at the Wellmont Theatre I had the pleasure of going to see Lamb of God and Gwar with WSOU’s finest: That Guy, Sheigh Hey Hey, Jen, Danielle, Steve, Melldawg, and Maria. The night included a list of many firsts. At this show was the first time I’ve ever had popcorn, as opposed to beer, spilt on me (popcorn at a metal show? Yum). It was the first time I’ve ever seen anyone wear a prom dress to a metal show or even a white tuxedo with a red bow tie. This was also the first time I’ve ever seen Lamb of God headline a show (the other two times I’ve seen them were when they opened up for Slipknot at the Continental Airlines Arena in 2005 and when they opened up for Killswitch Engage at the Hammerstein Ballroom in 2007). Additionally this was the first time I’ve ever seen Gwar live. Wow, what an experience.
Up until the concert I had heard many things about Gwar, ranging from their appearance to their stage antics. If you’ve never seen Gwar, GO. I think they’re on the list of bands that you have to see at least once in your lifetime just for the concert experience. Their set was like nothing I’ve ever seen before. It seemed they put on their own mini show in the overall concert. Before they took the stage, the audience was entertained by a short film clip that explained just exactly who Gwar is and what they are all about: namely monsters that were discovered in a tome somewhere in Antarctica that only stick around on earth for crack. From this clip alone, I was already amused and intrigued. Once they took the stage, the first words out of my mouth were “Oh my God”. Seeing them in person dressed up in these ridiculous space monster outfits was both hysterical and shocking. Who actually sat down and came up with this idea? Throughout their performance, different things were going on to entertain the crowd, including the band fighting evil guys and even later confronting an evil robot. The highlight of the band’s performance was getting sprayed with fake red and green blood, which explains why so many people anticipated this by proudly wearing white t-shirts. By the time their set was finished, Jen and Maria were both completely covered in the fake blood, true Gwar troopers, and it probably still hasn’t washed off. The last point I want to make about Gwar is that just from their performance, they completely disproved any negative stereotypes attached to their band name. People may say they’re evil or only insane people listen to them; those are lies. After watching them perform, Gwar is really just about having a good time. They are not seriously into themselves and their whole set is humorous (their name, after all, is an acryonym for God What an Awful Racket). Not to mention their music is actually pretty good if you give it a chance and get over their whole getup.

Lamb of God did not disappoint, as I figured. Since this was the first time I’ve seen them headline, as I previously mentioned, they were absolutely phenomenal. They had such good energy and numerously thanked New Jersey for all the love and support they’ve always been show from here. One thing I did find ironic: Randy mentioned that when they first started touring as a new band, they opened up for Gwar. Tuesday night the band order was the reverse. Another interesting thing: Lamb’s guitarist was absent because of family issues; in his place was God Forbid’s Doc Coyle. Even with Doc filling in on guitar, the band sounded great and if Randy hadn’t made the announcement, I probably would not have even noticed much of a difference. Every riff, breakdown, solo, and melody was spot on. These guys definitely know how to party. Here is their set list, not necessarily in this order:

Walked on stage to: The Passing
Opened with: In Your Words
Set to Fail
Contractor
Grace
Broken Hands
Dead Seeds
Walk With Me in Hell
Redneck
Pathetic
Laid to Rest
Now you’ve Got Something to Die For
Omerta
Ashes of the Wake
Ruin
Reclamation
Ended with: Black Label

As you can see, Lamb played a good mix of new and old stuff, with at least one song from every album. They had a great list of crowd pleasers and I walked away hearing every song I like by these guys.

One last comment I’d like to make about the show: Job for a Cowboy opened up the night and their performance was full of brutal, metal goodness. Unfortunately, the crowd didn’t seem all that into them. I would have expected a bigger pit to go along with all their fast-paced, intense songs. Towards the middle of their set, somewhat of a pit opened, but it was nowhere near what occurred for Lamb. Anyway, kudos to JFAC for playing and giving a great performance. They were just as good this time around as they were when I saw them open up for Killswitch Engage back in the summer.

Overall a fantastic show and a great lead in to Lamb’s future performance with Metallica in November.

By: Gabby Canella