King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard Open 2nd Annual Drag Night With Live Debut In Lyon

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard brought their European Tour to Lyon, France’s Les Nuits De Fourvière festival on Monday where they held their second annual drag night. Dubbed “Drag Night At Les Nuits De Fourvière,” the concert at The Great Theater saw KGLW debuting a The Silver Cord cut and offering an electronic rendition of “The Grim Reaper.”

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard held their first drag night exactly one year ahead of the second on June 3, 2023 at Tennessee’s The Caverns while on tour in North America last summer. The concert not only coincided with Pride Month but was also in protest of one of the state’s laws targeting drag performers.

The band’s second annual drag night in Lyon got underway with the live debut of The Silver Cord opener “Theia.” The premiere saw Stu Mackenzie, Joey Walker, Ambrose Kenny-Smith and Lucas Harwood assembled around the band’s electronic station with Michael Cavanagh behind the kit and Cook Craig manning his keyboards.

Watch the debut of “Theia” below:

From “Theia,” the band headed into the recently unveiled Silver Cord cut “Extinction” and on in to “The Grim Reaper.” The latter is one of KGLW’s forays into hip-hip appearing on the second of five albums the band released in 2022, Omnium Gatherum.

Rapped by Kenny-Smith, “The Grim Reaper” performance saw Amby throwing in quotes from famous hip-hop songs including “Get Low” (Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz), “Work It” (Missy Elliott) and “Body Movin’”/”Intergalactic” (Beastie Boys). The performance also saw Kenny-Smith delivering lyrics from his unreleased hip-hop song “Torture Chamber.”

Check out “The Grim Reaper” performance:

Following “The Grim Reaper,” Joey wished the audience a happy Pride Month before the band headed into the thrashy Ominum Gatherum cut, “Gaia,” which contained a drum solo from Cavs but with the band laying down an accompanying metal jam. After “Gaia,” Joey thanked Amy Taylor of KGLW’s fellow Melbourne band and opening act Amyl and The Sniffers for doing his makeup.

Gizzard then got into material from 2023’s PetroDragonic Apocalypse with “Converge” and “Witchcraft,” (the band debuted the latter during their drag night in Tennessee last year). Next came a Polygondwanaland sequence (“Inner Cell” > “Loyalty” > “Horology”) and a I’m In You Mind Fuzz segment (“I’m In Your Mind” > “I’m Not In Your Mind” > “Cellophane” > “I’m In Your Mind Fuzz”). The concert came to a close with “Magma.”

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard wrap their European Tour tonight in Milan. The North American Tour gets underway on August 15 in Washington D.C. Scroll down for the band’s itinerary with ticket info.

Setlist (via KGLW.net)

One Set: Theia[1] -> Extinction > The Grim Reaper, Gaia[2], Converge > Witchcraft, Inner Cell > Loyalty > Horology, I’m In Your Mind > I’m Not In Your Mind > Cellophane > I’m In Your Mind Fuzz, Magma

Footnotes:

• [1] Debut
• [2] With drum solo

Show Notes: The band dressed in drag for the 2nd ever drag night, exactly 1 year after the show on 2023-06-03. This show featured the debut of Theia. Theia contained Motor Spirit and Extinction quotes. Extinction contained The Grim Reaper teases. The Grim Reaper contained Get Low (Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz), Work It (Missy Elliot), Torture Chamber, and Body Movin’ and Intergalactic (Beastie Boys) quotes. Following The Grim Reaper, Joey wished everyone a happy pride month. Gaia contained a drum solo over a metal vamp from the band. After Gaia, Joey shouted out Amy Taylor of Amyl and the Sniffers for doing his makeup pre-show. Ambrose sung a verse of Witchcraft for Stu due to Stu’s pedal breaking. Cellophane contained Magma teases and quotes.

Opening Band(s): Amyl and the Sniffers