Australian band King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard formed in 2010, mashing up a combination of prospective band names into their now iconic name. The name tells you almost everything you need to know about this band of Australian goofs and their ability to turn any concept and sound into a piece of complex and intriguing art. In the past 14 years, they have released 26 studio albums covering many genres, from psychedelic rock to metal to indie and everything in-between. That’s almost one full album every six months for over a decade. King Gizzard gave us a taste of all of it Friday, August 16th at Forest Hills Stadium.
Opening for King Gizzard was Geese, coming off of their well-received second studio album, 3D Country and 4D Country EP. Geese’s sound fits well within Gizzard’s world, with more of an american blues lean meets Pearl Jam feeling to their sound. With these shows, Gizzard took a page out of the Grateful Dead’s book, playing three-hour sets with a changing setlist. Comparing the setlists from their Friday and Saturday shows at Forest Hills Stadium, they didn’t repeat a single song across the two shows. Their discography is so deep that they could repeat that feat across almost a dozen of these three-hour marathon sets without ever repeating a song.
If you are a fan of a more niche Gizzard song, now may be your opportunity to see it live as they trawl through their discography over the coming months. The setlist for this first Forest Hills show was a perfect welcome to fans who may not have had a chance to see the band before. The band played a majority of their most popular tracks, with an overall metal lean and a healthy serving of Gizzard’s home base psychadelic funk/rock to round out the 25 song setlist.
With the lack of breaks and varied repertoire, Gizzard amazingly suffered very few hiccups during their set, playing an almost seamless blend of tracks with some especially unique transitions between songs that made the audience’s ears perk up. All of the band’s members are multi-instrumentalists, adding to the complexity and giving King Gizzard their unique layered sound. They invited a fan named Gabby who was holding a sign in the audience on stage to sing the intro to “Nuclear Fusion.” The intro is probably best described as throat singing with some heavy effects layered ontop and Gabby killed it.
Another notable aspect of King Gizzard’s live performances is the audience, a unique combination of deadheads, metal heads, and monster heads, people dressed in a smattering of medieval clothing and monster costumes harkening to King Gizzard’s ever growing lore. Many of these costumes touch on themes inherent to Gizzard’s visual media and lyricism such as the eponymous awareness around the earths climate and the eponymous King Gizzard and Lizard Wizard. King Gizzard’s media presence is heavily based in fantasy and sci fi and has given way to fans concocting a unique world out of an amalgamation of lyrics and imagery. The looseness of this world is what makes their crowds so unique, as fans craft outfits that fit into a world created of their own creation, serving as a true reflection of the wearer in a way that typical fan regalia can’t.
The show stopped exactly at 10pm due to a hard curfew implemented by Forest Hills Stadium last year in an effort to cut down on noise complaints. Following their shows in Queens, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard continue on with their North America tour, which is a marathon itself, with 36 more shows through November of this year. Then in May of 2025 they make their way to Lisbon, Portugal for the European leg, which extends through June.
Setlist: Field of Vision, Daily Blues, Cut Throat Boogie, Gamma Knife, People-Vultures, Mr. Beat, Boogieman Sam, Work This Time, I’m In Your Mind, I’m Not In Your Mind, Cellophane, I’m In Your Mind Fuzz, This Thing, Self-Immolate, Organ Farmer, Venusian 2, Gila Monster, Flamethrower, Straws In The Wind, Pleura, All Is Known, Doom City, Rattlesnake, K.G.L.W. (Outro)
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Forest Hills Stadium – August 16, 2024
The post King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard Play 3 Hour Marathon Show at Forest Hills Stadium appeared first on NYS Music.
