King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard Debut Sprawling Original ‘Hypertension’ At The Anthem

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard hit The Anthem in Washington D.C. on Sunday. The Australian group unveiled their recently released song “Hypertension” to kick off the concert.

“Hypertension” is one of two 15-minute tracks on Laminated Denim, which arrived on October 12 as the prolific group’s fourth studio album of 2022 and second of three released in October. Laminated Denim is an anagram of Made In Timeland, the Aussie psych rockers’ second studio LP of 2022. Laminated Denim was crafted in a similar fashion as Made In Timeland consisting of two 15-minute tracks initially supposed to be played over the PA during set break at King Gizzard’s Red Rocks shows which were originally scheduled for May 2020 and postponed for over two years due to the pandemic.

With plans changed, the band released Made In Timeland in March ahead of the rescheduled Red Rocks shows. “We sat on Made In Timeland for so long that we started to get annoyed, and eventually just released it earlier this year,” King Gizzard’s Stu Mackenzie said. But the release meant that the band needed a similar project for their Red Rocks shows. So they created Made In Timeland’s sister album, Laminated Denim, which was played during intermission at Red Rocks earlier this month. That LP’s second track, “Hypertension,” now has its live premiere after Sunday’s show in D.C.

Following the debut, King Gizz continued on with two Omnium Gatherum — the band’s first studio release of 2022 — tracks “Blame It On The Weather and “Presumptuous.” The band then welcomed opener Leah Senior for two cuts off 2017’s Murder Of The Universe (Senior narrates the first two chapters of the studio album), “The Reticent Raconteur” and “The Lord Of Lightning,” which led the band into a quartet of tunes from 2014’s I’m In Your Mind Fuzz: “I’m In Your Mind,” “I’m Not In Your Mind,” “Cellophane” and the title track.

Next, Drummer Michael Cavanagh showed off his skills on an extended drum solo during “Self-Immolate” off 2019’s thrashy Infest The Rats Nest followed by the album’s “Perihelion.” Two tracks,“Static Electricity,” and “Pleura,” from 2021’s L.W. followed ahead of two cuts off 2020’s K.G. — “Straws In The Wind” and “Automation.” The Flying Microtonal Banana favorite “Rattle Snake” counted as the penultimate song of the concert before King Gizzard capped things with “Float Along – Fill Your Lungs.”

Find fan-shot footage of the “Hypertension” debut along with full-show audio via Alex Leary below:

Setlist