In a rush and can’t read the whole thing? Make sure to check out: “Hell”, “Gaia” > “Flamethrower” > “Motor Spirit” > “Gaia”, “Daily Blues” -> “The Bitter Boogie.”

King Gizzard just rolled into Scotland with a gig at The Usher Hall in Edinburgh on 2024-05-27. This show doesn’t feature any debuts like a lot of the previous shows, but it does feature a number of good jams and a wild amount of teases throughout its runtime. It also features Stu in a kilt, connecting to his “Mackenzie heritage” (as said by Joey).

The band kicked off with a rendition of “Magma” that goes for about ten minutes. It’s a fairly typical performance of the song, but a good start and it gets the audience excited for more. Keeping up that energy is “The Reticent Raconteur” > “The Lord of Lighting”, and while it doesn’t deviate from past versions, Stu is animated throughout, especially in the song’s climatic breakdown (made all the more hectic by Galea’s Nonagon-centric visuals). As Lucas and Cavs play the song’s familiar outro riff, Stu, Joey, and Cook switch to their C#-tuned guitars and tease “Cellophane” and “Witchcraft” as a set up for “I’m In Your Mind.”. Once again, Stu is very animated here, throwing his hand around his head, swinging his SG around and narrowly missing the ground. It’s a strong performance that leads into a slightly sloppy but lighthearted “I’m Not In Your Mind” with Joey taking a lead role. The jam leads to teases of “Am I In Heaven?” and “Daily Blues”, signaling some later set developments. The band then heads straight into “Cellophane” which features a “Rattlesnake” tease, once again setting up later picks. They close out the suite nicely with “I’m In Your Mind Fuzz”, wrapping up a twenty-minute-plus jam.

Keeping with the heavy tuning, they next get into their metal material. “Venusian 2” starts the section on a high note with both Stu and Joey getting into the pounding drums with improvisation and sprints across the stage. After Ambrose made a quick comment about his appreciation of Edinburgh, the band went into a chaotic performance of “Hell” that seems to be one of the strongest in recent memory. Stu, Joey, and Cook are locked in on their harmonies while Cavs and Lucas barrel through the song at an incredible pace. The outro hits like a truck after such a well-executed performance. “Gaia” follows the fan favorite with yet another great rendition. This seems to be Cavs’ moment of the night. The mix accentuates Cavs’ ride cymbal in the verses and the band gives him time to rip through a solo while the crowd chants. Lucas also gets a moment to shine here with a groovy line during the solo jam and some rock energy towards the beginning. While the song used to go into “Gila Monster” here as part of a large sandwich, they seem to be moving away from it. This show is a perfect example as the band opts for “Flamethrower.” Much like the metal songs before it, the band is tight on this one with Cavs’ double kick drums doing some heavy lifting throughout. The only thing that seems to stop the band in their tracks on this one is a shoe thrown on stage. Once again, the band skip the synth outro but they do go into another newly introduced song: the full rendition of “Motor Spirit.” There are a few hiccups here, such as an awkward harmony at the beginning and some late vocals going into the final chorus of the first section, but the band resolves these quickly and quite elegantly—in fact, there the timing of the late vocals adds something quite cool. Overall it's a good performance and it leads nicely back into “Gaia”, completing a massive sandwich.

For the second time ever, Gizzard gave the crowd a run through of “Daily Blues.” Unlike the last one, this doesn’t come out of a “Bitter Boogie” jam, giving better insight as to how the song will appear on album number twenty-six. That said, the band instead switches it up and heads into “The Bitter Boogie.” While the last performance on 2024-05-23 had a “Muddy Water”-like rhythm, the band goes with a fast boogie approach on this one, using a common 4/4 rhythm before switching into what was heard on the twenty-third for Ambrose’s breakdown. This section ends up being a highlight of the show with some unknown quotes, great vocals from Ambrose, and some fun guitar lines from Stu. The band makes their way out of the slow break by the end (even getting into some heavier garage rock territory), capping off a nice blues-influenced two-parter.

The final moments of the night focus on the band’s microtonal music. After Stu returns the previously-thrown shoe back into the audience, Gizzard goes into a funky “Minimum Brain Size” with heavy wah-wah usage. This leads into a short but sweet “Automation.” The real gem of the microtonal section is the finale: “Rattlesnake.” The band takes their time on this one and teases a number of microtonal tunes, as well as “Boogieman Sam” and “Daily Blues.” The band also teases “Billabong Valley” extensively, with a spotlight on Ambrose throughout. Even Ben Portnoy of the band C.O.F.F.I.N. joins the band on drums. It’s long and at times perhaps tedious, but it ends the night in high spirits.

This one isn’t the most “in-your-face” of the EU tour, but it delivers a lot: a fierce opening with a winding suite of jams, a musically tight metal section that gets you headbanging, a unique boogie section to get you on your feet, and a nice endnote with microtones. There’s something in this show for everyone.