Machines vs Monsters Tour Buffalo Riverworks 06/08/2025 Buffalo, NY

The Machines vs Monsters Tour roared through the Rust Belt's Queen City Sunday evening June 8th at Buffalo Riverworks. Co-headliners Static X and GWAR led the sonic & visual blitz, with support from Dope and A Killer's Confession.

Absent were the ever present waves of blue, white and red that usually wash over the city during football season. This particular sunny Sunday, those colors were swapped for a thick sea of charcoal and obsidian. Jerseys of hometown hereos draped in patriotic hues, passed over in favor of denim patchwork vests and band tees. One unmistakable unifying theme gameday & showtime share, is the raucous bluster of the fans.

A Killer's Confession, lead by former Mushroomhead front man Waylon Reavis, would kick off the festivities with an 8 song set as the room filled in, before handing-off the stage to rooted electro-industrial rockers Dope.

Taking the stage, Edsel Dope and his bandmates would quickly command the attention of the crowd, opening the set with their blistering track "Blood Money," from their 2016 record of its namesake. The following two tracks, "Bring It On" and "B***h," from their 2003 junior release Group Therapy, finished the trifecta of songs starting with the letter B. Dope then thrashed into their 1999 major label debut single "Debonaire." You may recognize it as the soundtrack for the iconic raid scene in the movie The Fast and the Furious.

With the crowd already in a frenzy eating up every wrathful lyric, Dope then dropped crowd favorite "Die MF Die." It was an acrimonious anthem in which the crowd enthusiastically screamed the lyrics back to the band, who relished the moment. Closing out the set was their encore mainstay and proclaimed "stupidest song you'll ever hear in your entire life," a cover of Dead or Alive's 80s classic, "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)."

In anticipation of shock rock anchors GWAR, the black sea suddenly started to churn over, revealing fresh white caps rolling towards the stage. Eager fans rocking clean white tees positioned towards the front, hoping to sponge up some GWAR goo on their empty canvases. The ultimate souvenir and conversation piece. Buffalo Riverworks was incredibly accommodating by allowing the messy theatrics to take place inside their massive indoor venue. The fans love it, the band is known for it, and the live show just wouldn't be the same without it!

Gwar's brand of disgusting humor and putrid antics were welcomed with eagerness as the intergalactic troll-like warlords filled the stage. The set opened with the 2017 track from Blood of the Gods, "F*** This Place." A telling stance on their view of our dysfunctional planet. It featured a decapitation of a human subject and the subsequent spewing of his blood to the crowd's enjoyment.

The track "Metal Metal Land" would follow, briefly causing the cell phone sea to subside into a swell of banging heads. An appearance of the song"El Presidente," brought out an aesthetically accurate Donald Trump to the stage, only to be disemboweled to the roar of the audience, painting once white canvases into a sea of blood red maniacs.

The mutant miscreants blasted through two more tour staples, "Womb With a View" and "The Salaminizer," leading up to the night's next celebrity look-alike appearance before the song "Slap U Around." Taylor Swift arose in a Travis Kelce jersey dress, amidst a backdrop of her likeness to the cackles of the crowd. She revealed her love child with guitarist Grodius Maximus, followed by a deluge of mung showered over the crowd.

The second to last song would provide the final and perhaps most ceremonious moment of the set. The orphaned juvenile T-Rex Gor-Gor was summoned to appear during the song of the same name, prompting a fierce clash with the Scumdogs of the Universe before retreating. The conclusion of their set with the 1990 track, "Sick of You," let the clamoring fans showered in sludge know exactly how the unlikely interstellar heroes feel about the very same peasants praising their existence.

The monsters had made a lasting impression with their appearance. They captured imaginations with shocking imagery, snapped necks with crushing power riffs, and provoked laughter with their lewd humor. They had made a mistake however. Ignoring a formidable opponent that had yet to appear. The rise of the machines that would overtake the venue with the mighty Satic-X seizing the crowds attention.

A re-tooled lineup for Static-X in 2019, a few years after the unfortunate passing of founding member and front man Wayne Static, would reunite the remaining original members of the band in tribute and give rise to the current terminator-like face of their unit, Xer0. A mechanical adaptation and homage to Wayne Static's likeness.

Standing atop a staircase adorned with group insignia, Xer0's vertical hair, piercing red eyes, and exoskeletal frame drew in the crowds gaze as the band ripped into the 2005 Start a War song, "I Want to F***ing Break It." Next up was 2007's title track from the album Cannibal, before the appearance of the first piece played from the Xer0 era. A befitting robotic anthem from Project Regeneration, Vol. 1, Terminator Oscillator.

The following five cuts all reside on industrial treasure Wisconsin Death Trip, from 1999. "Love Dump", "Sweat of the Bud," "Wisconsin Death Trip," "Fix" and "Bled for Days" were pounded out with renewed vigor, sending the crowd into a swirling frenzy. Bassist Tony Campos bounced across the stage rolling thunderous low end chops in unison with Ken Jay's percussive blasts. Six string maestro Koichi Fukuda brilliantly executed heavy licks to the crowds praise. Xer0's vocals during Love Dump were especially haunting and reminiscent of their fallen friend Wayne.

"Black and White" and "Get to the Gone" would make appearances in succession from their Sophomore record from 2001, Machine, before returning to Wisconsin Death Trip to lay down a massive version of "I Am." The performance of the second Xer0 era track, "Z0mbie," would welcome to the stage a huge Frankenstein like monster that staggered about. A unification of the creatures billed to battle.

"Destroy All" was called up as the lone track of the night from 2003's Shadow Zone, before returning to the final song to be played off of Machine, "Cold." "Cold" was done in rememberance of Wayne Static with images of him adorning the main media screen throughout the performance, finishing with a touching epitaph.

With curfew looming near, the band launched into "I'm With Stupid." A crowd pleasing rager filled with samples and Xer0 mimicking Wayne's distinctive guttural growls. Halfway into the song, the music stopped due to a technical issue, prompting Tony Campos' snarky comment, "I guess we're the losers." After a few minutes of banter and musical silence, Xer0 came back out, cutting off Tony's Vinnie Paul story to finish the song strong like the snafu never happened. The event would close with a raging rendition of a crowd favorite that gained Static-X recognition in the scene, "Push It."

It doesn't matter which side you chose before the mayhem. Neither monster or machine came out as a clear victor. The real winners were the Buffalonians that came out to see a handful of metal pillars do what they do best. Bang heads, and melt faces.