The Return of Gor-Gor: GWAR at Brooklyn Bowl

October 22. 2025 – ONCE AGAIN! We have been summoned to the Brooklyn Bowl Las Vegas for the ultimate aliens – The Scumdogs of the Universe, GWAR! A fantastically diverse set of bands presented with Blood Vultures, The Dwarves, and Helmet opening. Hazy smoke filled the air, with dark, moody lighting taking over the venue as we all prepared for the anticipated return of GOR-GOR!

Just a pre-warning here, my husband usually covers Gwar with me, and he is much better at playing on the story of Gwar, and creating that really fun, immersive and interesting story in real time. But I’m hoping my observations are good enough for all of you since he was unable to come out with me this time.

Blood Vulture

Opening up the evening was Blood Vulture. I may be mistaken here, but I’m pretty sure they said they played parodies of other songs, which I definitely heard a piece of with what sounded like the intro to “Join Me In Death” by HIM, followed by different lyrics. Their music is clearly influenced by a number of different bands and genres, and their socials state that they’re a gothic, sludge/death grunge band that tells a story of a reclusive vampire long locked away as he grapples with what it means to live forever in a world of impermanence. (ref: Instagram / Facebook about sections) At any rate, they were pretty entertaining to see, and I’m interested in seeing where they go from here.

The Dwarves

The Dwarves may have seemed a little out of place on this bill, but they definitely brought some of the local punks out to play! I had to dig around and see if I had seen these guys in the past, because they definitely felt familiar. (Note: I did indeed, see them in the past. They played at Punk Rock Bowling in 2021, which has been a staple of an event for me personally.) Dubbed “the greatest punk rock band ever”, these guys really brought some fun energy that I wish the rest of the crowd would have grasped onto a bit more. They also have some of that ever noticeable dry humor that not everyone gets, so that added to the visible disconnect, I think. Which is also kind of fucking weird, because if you’re at a show were fucking GWAR is headlining, how are you not picking up on other humor? I digress. These guys are really rad, and you should listen to them and go see them. Also, lighten the fuck up.

Helmet

Helmet is one of those popular, yet kind of underrated bands that I’m not sure I thought I’d ever get to see really. While I couldn’t say I’m part of their definitive base, I definitely have always been casually familiar with them just through the fact that “Unsung” was featured on Guitar Hero and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, two games which are millennial gems of the 2000’s, and were almost religiously played in my house when my brothers and I were teenagers. (The song also appeared on an episode of MTV’s Beavis and Butthead, but I was always a bit more into Daria, in which that show spawned afterwards, ha!) The crowd was much more receptive to this set in comparison to the previous one. They performed a solid set, and the crowd was good and ready by the time they were done for the final event of the evening.

Gwar

With the room now full of smoke, the lights dim, and an introduction by what looked like a circus ring leader, Gwar finally takes the stage! I mistakenly did not look up any of the coverage for this run, so I was not expecting the bloodshed to start right off the bat during the first song. But that’s alright, I’ve long gotten over my fear of being drenched in a Gwar pit. Within seconds the front row was drenched in the blood of the first victim. And I got through those first few songs unscathed.

After my time in the photo pit, I headed upstairs to get a birds eye view of the crowd enjoying themselves, and running around the floor and the moshpit, along with several more sacrifices, but I had to make my way back down to the floor when they started playing, “Mother Fucking Liar,”, which is one of my personal favorite tracks Gwar has.

This tour, named “The Return of Gor-Gor”, featured a massive dinosaur tucked into the corner of the stage, which was brought out near the end of the show, it bites the head off another victim and more blood is sprayed into the eager crowd. Seeing the dino take up almost the entire stage was a pretty cool touch, and I have to say, I hope they keep bringing this piece out!

Another well received, happy to be bled on crowd for the mighty GWAR, who is celebrating 40 years of their collective music/art experience. This run is in support of their latest EP release titled the same name as the tour, which features a special 32 page comic book. Released in July of this year, it is still available on their website, so go get you a copy! https://gwar.net/collections/the-return-of-gor-gor

Literally my only disappointment was no noticeable figures being decapitated on stage. But that’s okay, I got a pretty good fill of that last year. And it won’t stop me from waiting for all the future sacrifices to the ultimate scumdog aliens.

Also have to give an honorable mention to the staff at Brooklyn Bowl. Simply because they had back to back shows where the main floor was absolutely a mess afterwards, (ICP performed on this stage the very next night and… well… if you know, fucking Faygo everywhere… haha.) and that had to be both hilarious and frustrating for them. So big props for them being good sports.

Until next time!