King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard Finally Debut ‘Interior People’ Live

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard brought their fall tour to the Bay Area last night for a concert at Frost Amphitheater on the campus of Stanford University. The biggest surprise of the night was the long-awaited live debut of “Interior People,” a fan-favorite originally released by the band on their stellar 2021 studio album, Butterfly 3000.

“Interior People” was trotted out by King Gizz as the 13th of 18 songs at Frost Amphitheater. Joey Walker, who wrote the lyrics, sang lead and played acoustic guitar on “Interior People.” Stu Mackenzie was on synth and provided harmony vocals.

While it took King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard three years to bring the song to the live stage, they aren’t the first band to perform “Interior People.” Eggy debuted a cover of “Interior People” on July 15, 2021 — just one month after the release of Butterfly 3000. The Connecticut-based jam quartet has played “Interior People” 19 times since with the most recent cover pulled off at last month’s Austin City Limits Music Festival.

Phish was also keen on covering “Interior People.” After initially practicing the song in July of 2022 they were ready to debut their take that December during their New Year’s Run. However, once Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio found out about Eggy’s version they decided against it. Eggy drummer Alex Bailey found out about Phish’s decision during a conversation with Anastasio at the 2023 Catbird Music Festival.

“[Trey] was like, ‘When we were preparing for [‘Interior People’], one of my friends called me and was like, hey, just letting you know, this band Eggy has been playing this song. Alright, well, I gotta check it out. … I checked it out, watched the whole video. After that, I pulled the plug on it,’” Bailey recalled in an interview with Live For Live Music.

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard stuck fairly close to the studio version for the live performance of “Interior People.” Watch how it played out below:

The Australian sextet opened Monday’s show with “Super Bug.” The Infest The Rats Nest gem hadn’t seen action for 20 shows. After the “Supercell” that followed, King Gizz looked to 2014’s I’m In Your Mind Fuzz for the suite that kicks off the LP: “I’m In Your Mind > I’m Not In Your Mind > Cellophane > I’m In Your Mind Fuzz.”

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard went heavy on material from their latest album, Flight b741, over the rest of the night. “Le Risque,” “Daily Blues,” “Hog Calling Contest,” “Field Of Vision” and “Raw Feel” each made the setlist. An expansive “The Dripping Tap” closed out the concert.

Watch King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard’s full show at Frost Amphitheater below:

King Gizz sticks in the Bay Area for a Wednesday night show in San Francisco. The band will deliver their Silver Cord album in its entirety for an “Experimental Rave Set” at The Regency Ballroom.

Setlist (via KGLW.net)

Set: Superbug, Supercell, I’m In Your Mind > I’m Not In Your Mind > Cellophane > I’m In Your Mind Fuzz, Le Risque, Daily Blues -> Cut Throat Boogie -> Trapdoor, The Garden Goblin, Gondii -> Interior People[1], Hog Calling Contest[2], Field of Vision > Raw Feel, Magma, The Dripping Tap

Footnotes:

• [1] Debut
• [2] Joey on acoustic guitar

Show Notes: This show featured the debut of Interior People, which featured Joey on acoustic guitar. I’m In Your Mind and I’m Not In Your Mind contained Cellophane teases. Cut Throat Boogie contained Sad Pilot and Daily Blues teases. Before Hog Calling Contest, which was introduced as being by Jack Johnson and featured Joey on acoustic guitar, Joey mentioned how Ambrose invented a skate move called “Chicken to the Barnyard” and how he played Skate. Field of Vision was introduced as a song about the audience and was dedicated to Jess Lewis. Raw Feel contained Robot Stop, Witchcraft, and Third Stone From The Sun (Jimi Hendrix) teases. Ambrose quoted Le Risque before The Dripping Tap, which was dedicated to Billy Cavanaugh and contained a Magma jam with lyrics and I’m In Your Mind teases. Lucas referenced Minimum Brain Size at the end of the show, saying “Make sure you go vote the orange baby out of office tommorow.”, as the US election was the following day.