Gwar star Dave Brockie’s costume set alight for Viking funeral

Gwar fans paid their respects to late frontman Dave Brockie at the group’s annual Gwar-B-Q in Richmond, Virginia on Friday (15Aug14) by setting fire to his stage costume in a Viking-esque funeral. The rocker, aka Oderus Urungus, died of an accidental heroin overdose in March (14), and pal and Lamb of God star Randy Blythe led Friday’s send-off with a eulogy as the festival began.
Brockie’s costume was laid out on a boat, which was launched into a lake and set on fire with a flaming arrow.
Blythe told the gathered fans, friends and family members, “Dave is the only motherf**ker I know who has to get put away twice. He’s too big for one f**king funeral.”
The Lamb of God star also posted a photo of the flaming pyre to Instagram.com, writing, “Tonight we sent Oderus home in a fitting manner at the public memorial for Dave Brockie… Watching my friend Dave’s costume go up in flames in front of a thousand fans was so much more intense for me than the private memorial for friends & family we had April Fool’s Day. I spoke at both of them, as GWAR asked me to, & both times as I spoke I was sad.
“But watching his alter-ego burn tore me up way more than the first memorial, maybe because there was Dave, the human who was my friend who just ‘left us’ – I never saw his body – & then there was Oderus, who was something entirely else. To watch his stage gear burn was like watching part of my life literally go up in flames. I was sobbing my eyes out as I took this photo. It was just a super-intense moment. Very beautiful, but overwhelming. Fly free, Oderus – you are missed.”