Photos: GWAR, Soulfly, and King Parrot at Cain's Ballroom in Tulsa, OK

Metal and shock rock legends Gwar descended upon Tulsa, Oklahoma, on April 9 for a show at the historic Cain’s Ballroom as part of their spring “Gor Gor Strikes Back” tour. The evening featured support from grindcore band King Parrot and metal group Soulfly.

King Parrot, who hails from Down Under, were first to take the stage, haphazardly flinging water bottles at the crowd during their nine-song setlist. The Melbourne-based group’s set was vicious and fast, leaving the audience wanting more. Finishing their set with “Fuck You and the Horse You Rode In On,” the band preempted the song by asking the crowd to sing along to the chorus (which was just the title of the song). The audience more than came through, chanting the lyrics back to singer Matthew Young as he jumped down off the stage and sang along with fans on the barricade.

Next was Soulfly. The Brazilian-American heavy metal band is known for incorporating a wide range of genres into their music. Fans were treated to a conglomeration of Brazilian tribal music, death metal, groove metal, and more. Soulfly even surprised concert-goers with a cover of Deftones’ “Headup,” which lead vocalist Max Cavalera recorded with the band.

Finally, it was time for Gwar to take the stage, but before doing so, the band had a special surprise for the ballroom. Fittingly, Gwar has a 30+ year history with Cain’s Ballroom and celebrated that fact by returning a piece of history to the venue ahead of the show. During Gwar’s debut at the venue in 1995, they stole a chunk of the original dance floor — made famous for being the birthplace of western swing thanks to Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys — and made a picture frame out of the boards. Ahead of the show, Jizmak Da Gusha presented the picture frame containing a poster from that 1995 show to the venue owners. You can watch that video here.

Gwar’s no-holds-barred set was ninety minutes of pure, unabashed chaos. Blöthar the Berserker chided the audience by saying that Gwar was thrilled to be in Oklahoma City, earning a faux boo and laughter from the crowd.

Immediately descending into the storyline, the intergalactic war barbarians reunited with their frenemy Gor-Gor, resulting in a literal bloodbath of epic proportions. For those unaware, Gwar is notorious for spraying the audience with fake blood via cannons from decapitations, amputations, and even utters. Fans come to the show wearing DIY Sharpie-d white shirts in hopes of leaving with blood-soaked homemade merch.

The Scumdogs of the Universe’s set featured seventeen songs from eleven different releases, including a few songs from their most recent record, The Return of Gor-Gor. One of the highlights, however, was when the band treated fans to a cover of Chappell Roan’s “Pink Pony Club.” The cover made waves on the Internet when it was released in January. Blöthar mounted a slightly raised dias, and as the chorus kicked in, he drenched the audience in blood from his frontal udders.

Gwar always has their finger on the pulse of the current political zeitgeist, offering a scathing critique of both current and past administrations. “El Presidente” saw a caricature of Donald Trump take the stage, mimicking some of his most infamous quotes. It wasn’t long before he and the members of Gwar battled to the death, which saw the political figure disemboweled by the end of it — an action that led to a palpable tension in the crowd…and even a few walkouts.

Later on in the set, a caricature of former president Bill Clinton took to the stage carrying a binder that read “The Pedo Files,” and accidentally incriminated himself, his wife, and a few others as being in the Epstein Files. Quick on his feet, Clinton whipped out his “distractophone” and played a sax solo before the band had had enough and decapitated him, directly leading into “Mother Fucking Liar.”

Even if this type of music isn’t your cup of tea, Gwar’s theatricality must be experienced at least once. The war-bringing aliens are on tour until April 29 with dates ranging from the west coast to central U.S. You can find a list of those dates here.