King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard’s Tour Takes Flight In Washington D.C.

Not sure you can call it an apex when the recent King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard runs have also been led by highest-level anticipation and met with ensuing crowd excitement. But these guys continue to deliver to a remarkably fiendish fanbase, matching their (nearly unparalleled) prolific studio output with a dazzling measure of live execution.

As the catalog of goods grows seemingly endless and this run in the sun takes on a rarefied resilience and tenure, on Thursday, hot on the heels of the release of the blues and rock heavy Flight b741, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard re-staked their claim as one of the pre-eminent live acts on Earth to boot up a breakneck run across the states where the band will keep a totally mental schedule that most peers at their stature don’t attempt these days.

At the outset of the band’s most ambitious and voluminous American tour since pre-pandemic, the Aussies again flexed at the peak of their powers, picking up where they last left the US in 2023 at the tour opener at The Anthem, a sleek and modern waterfront venue in the nation’s capital.

After an excellent, but all-to-brief opening set by NYC’s Geese, a projected message from the headliners behind the stage read:

As the weirdo swarm grows, we have to work hard to keep our community inclusive.

The mosh pit is a safe place for young, old, big, small and ppl of all genders. If you see any dickheads, alert security.

Look after each other in there and BE YOURSELF.

We love you all. King Gizz X

Ahead of a pair of marathon shows up in Queens at Forest Hills Stadium, The Anthem one-nighter was a fairly “standard” set of King Gizzard fare (must disclaim: this use of “standard” is strictly from a setlist/on-paper perspective as you’ll read below). Unlike the marathon shows, there was no intermission, and, despite being somewhat overlooked by many amongst the array of extra special runs around the country, night one of the massive tour was all-killer, no-filler, the sort of unrelenting melt-a-thon few rock or jam acts (of bands with varying setlists) current or past can deliver with such regularity.

Roaring out of the gates with the familiar recent staples “The Dripping Tap” followed by “Iron Lung” and the live debut of “Antarctica,” the sextet and 6,000 (give or take) in attendance established the sort of connected band-to-fan tissue that’s rare to find, hard to describe and impossible to simply will into existence, there was an energy in the room that you just don’t see on most nights in the smallest and loudest rock club.

The initial rapid-fire frame of the show set an intense, buckle-in tone for the night, but musically, the evening took full-fledged flight with a maniacal “Evil Death Roll” jam followed by a beautifully transitioned “Ice V” into “The River” at the midpoint, flexing the night’s featured triple guitar waves of sound and leaning towards the gnarlier, heavier and psychedelic second frame of the evening that would prove unrelenting. “The River” landed squarely into must relisten territory.

Despite not doing a traditional encore break (a tradition I’m personally ready to see mostly die off), the tail end felt like a series of finales and curtain calls, ramming across a heavy onslaught of “Supercell,” “Mars for the Rich” and “Motor Spirit” before the bruising right proper ripper “Gaia” (an inversion from the usual reverse order), replete with a big drum break by the elite Michael Cavanagh from high on a riser.

Perhaps it was the anticipation of a tour opener, but the air at The Anthem was supercharged on Thursday, and, as a result, King Gizzard graciously hit the stage a smidge early and stayed on extra late, going about thirty minutes past the “hard curfew” and continuing to dig back in after what felt like the end of the potential set a couple of times. These are jammy times in GizzWorld.

If night one was any indication, this is a can’t miss tour for fans of the band (aren’t they all?) and luckily, all shows will be streamed live on YouTube and Instagram.

Postscript: Having logged hundreds of days and nights in photo pits situated between the rail riders and band, I can say with certainty the energy transfer between the fervent fanbase and band was very, very noteworthy. Been lucky enough to attend a few of the remarkable “instant classic” Red Rocks shows over the past couple years, but after last night I can confidently say, indoor Gizzard is where it’s at if you want to fully feel it. Woooooooo!

Audio Taped by Alex Leary

Videos

Setlist (via KGLW.net)

One Set: The Dripping Tap, Iron Lung, Antarctica, Raw Feel, Sad Pilot, Evil Death Roll, Ice V -> The River, Crumbling Castle > The Fourth Colour[1], Supercell > Mars For the Rich, Motor Spirit, Gaia[2]

Notes:

• [1] Unfinished
• [2] With drum solo
• This show featured the debut of Antarctica. The Dripping Tap contained You Can Be Your Silhouette teases, Antarctica teases & quotes, and Am I In Heaven? teases. Evil Death Roll was introduced as a song about Bob Dylan and contained Witchcraft and Robot Stop teases. Ice V contained a Witchcraft tease and a “Blindness” (The Fall) jam. The Fourth Colour, which was incomplete, contained a Daily Blues jam with lyrics and “Whole Lotta Rosie” (AC/DC) teases. Supercell was introduced as a song about orange juice. Following Motor Spirit, Joey introduced the band members. Gaia contained a jam with Joey on bass, which contained a Motor Spirit tease and a drum solo.