This post is a bit late, and a bit short, but with the holiday’s and all everything is a bit crazy. Although not as crazy as this last GWAR show. Yes, back again at The Intersection in Grand Rapids, my 2nd year shooting this infamous band. With the sad passing of Dave Brockie aka Oderus Urungus in March, this was the bands first presentment of the new lineup to Grand Rapids.
The show got started with American Sharks, but they seemed to go on very early and were already halfway through their set before most of us even got through the doors. Punk band The Meatmen picked up after that and presented a very high energy set.
Open for GWAR was Corrosion of Conformity, a bit lower key for what you would expect opening for GWAR, but they had the crowd literally entranced with their music. Although not entranced enough to prevent some random beer to hit me in the back. If that wasn’t insulting enough, it smelled like the cheap stuff. Come up people, don’t drink cheap beer, and even more so, don’t throw it.
As the stage was setup for the headliner, the photographers all pulled out their plastic wraps, ziplock bags and a variety of materials to help protect themselves and their gear. The pit was rather large, which was great, although they had attempted to cover the floor with plastic, which only made things worse in the end, making it very slippery and claiming at least one member of security as they were pulling a crowd surfer over the barricade. There were a lot of us in their, I counted I think 7 or 8 of us, plus 3 security. It made for a tight fit, especially when you are trying to dodge spray.
Like before, I brought an extra plastic cover, and just like before ended up giving it away to that one photographer that didn’t come as prepared as they should have. Soon the fans began to cheer as Black Sabbath’s War Pigs began to play, signaling the band was close. I swear, to the metal crowd, that song is practically an anthem.
Photographically, GWAR is hard to shoot. You are dodging the spray, the crowd, security and the lighting is crazy. However we do the best we can. So without further delay, here are some pictures…um…viewer discretion advised.
