words and infographic by rsprochaska

Link to FULL INFOGRAPHIC

So what’s this post all about and why should you read it? Well to start, there’s a lot to unpack for a band that streams every show live and releases the subsequent soundboards shortly after, developing an official live catalogue that far exceeds their already elaborate and fantastically excessive studio output. I started tracking live Gizz after my first show at Radius, Chicago in October 2022, contributing to this website in early 2024, and compiled an infographic (link here) for the band’s first fully released tour in North America at the end of last year.

This 2025 European residency tour is my second attempt to visually analyze the musical performance of each show of a certain period in the band’s live history. A link to the full PDF of the infographic is available here.

So what’s with all the numbers and info all over the page? Well stepping back, if we find a way to compare the songs at each show through simple agreeable categories, while also tracking each song with consistent constraints, we can pull some interesting information from the tour that speaks to different traits of the live shows, as well as possible clues to future performances, while most importantly gaining further insight into the unique minds of such a creative group of life long friends.

So how was this done? I tracked every show by downloading the audio provided by the band’s beautiful bootlegger program. I then brought the tracks into Audacity software to create labels for exporting new song lengths, removing portions that I consider ‘banter’ from the show. I define ‘banter’ as periods greater than five seconds between songs consisting to some degree of: pauses in performance, pauses for tuning, conversation between band members, audience, and crew, and extended riffs or fills by one band member to sustain momentum. In short, periods where there is no music. The band tends to add these moments between songs to the end of an audio track, making the length of the track longer than the actual song performance. The process described above creates some initial data, allowing us to compare the musical length of each show across each residency, as well as the percentage of banter contained in each gig.

By creating the labels for every song over the tour using the same constraints, certain trends immediately emerge. There are songs that the band almost always performs the same, down to a couple seconds. This can be seen with “Field of Vision,” “Witchcraft,” the “Horology” suite, the “MotU” suite, and many other songs. For a band that is considered loose and adventurous in their recent jamming, their musical technicality and competence is impressively consistent throughout the rest of the setlists.

All of the tracking and identification I did for each show is in the top right of the infographic. Directly underneath the tracking chart are the definitions of each category. These categories are graphed on the bottom left of the infographic, with the bottom of the chart depicting the lengths of each show. This same data is displayed as numeric percentages above the chart adjacent to each show poster.

All tour show posters were illustrated by the lizard wizard himself, Jason Galea. This is reflective of the NA Residency tour in 2023, not just in complete artistic control, but also in Galea’s implementation of three distinct color schemes for each residency, allowing one illustration to become varied and distinct per evening. Galea was the initiator of the obsession for this fan. Learning about his work came at a creative period in my own life where I was incredibly inspired by one creative pursuing so many mediums in a constant stream of diverse and yet recognizable output. A dive into the musical side of the Gizzverse would quickly show that the band and artist share similar pursuits of creative diversity, but the initial pull for me came from Jason’s art. I spent every opportunity I had (which was realistically the occasional Reddit AMA) to ask when Jason would release an art book and I’m a very grateful owner of the excitingly titled Volume 1.

Venue Category Comparisons

So onto some data with the help of some categorization; Metal songs, Microtonal songs, Jammed songs, Nathan songs, Elusive songs, and Banter. What are Elusive songs? I define those as songs that were only performed once in a single show and never repeated again before or after the performance for the length of all fifteen tour performances. Fifteen shows and the song is only heard once. That seems pretty elusive to me… The heaviest Metal sets bookended the tour with a relatively consistent amount at the middle three venues. The most inconsistent category of the tour was Microtonal, dipping to less than 3% in Lithuania. The percentage of Jammed songs drops 17%, lowest in Bulgaria where the greater spread of discography was performed. Jammed songs are defined in the infographic as songs performed with contained improvisation during a portion of the performance, sometimes containing extensively altered variations compared with the song’s studio recording. A fair assumption is the more they jam, the less albums they cover with longer songs taking the place of a setlist filled with more songs. There was the least amount of consistency across a category when reviewing the songs performed with Nathan the synth table. Lisbon saw the least amount of Elusive songs, primarily acting as a preview for the main bulk of material repeated at the other venues. The banter across the tour was fairly consistent with the band becoming more vocal as the tour progressed. Some of the songs overlap in categorization as visualized on the tracking chart. A couple traits appear among the overlap; Nathan table songs will be Jammed songs with the sole exception of “The Garden Goblin”. Over half the Nathan table songs were Elusive songs. There are probably several others, maybe some that you readers can discover and share with us over on our forum!

The same information is visualized on the infographic but segmented by show in place of venue. The drop in Jammed songs is most apparent at first glance. The bottom of the graph charts the length of the shows, showing Athens as the most consistent in length and some of the longest, with night three of Lisbon taking the place of longest performance. The second and second-to-last show of the tour were the shortest shows, but the second-to-last contained a much higher number of Elusive songs. There appears to be a general correlation between the amount of Microtonal music heard and the amount of time Nathan joins the stage. The highest percentage of Microtonal music was in the second show when Nathan had yet to make an appearance, while the shows with the greatest percentage of Nathan were also shows that contained no Microtonal music.

So enough about numbers, info or data of any kind. Tell us about the music; what are some recommended highlights from the tour? I did manage to catch a majority of the live streams and have gone through all the bootleg recordings while preparing the infographic. Here’s a few thoughts on what stood out while listening and reading between the tracking lines…

Lisbon

The first night of Lisbon has the band charging out with the jams, clearly wired with the pent-up distinctive live energy they bring to their shows, absent from the world since leaving the stage in Florida last November. Six months later and the first show confirms what fans desire most: the band did not use that time hibernating but instead improved further on their musical craft. The synchronization between members continues to build, and the comradery and genuine love for each other was on full display from beginning to end of each show while pushing each other towards new limits.

“Antarctica” was the first jam of the tour and saw the song extend to about double the length of the average performance during the previous tour. The first jam of the first show of the year and the band is already displaying a step forward in their improvisation from just six months prior. Attentive ears can also hear Stu tease a certain “Block of Ice” by thee iconic Osees. “A Block of Ice” tease in a song titled “Antarctica”? What more needs to be said?

The setlist overall shares quite a few similarities and energy as the 2024/11/01 concert at the Kia Forum. In place of the Forum “Slow Jam 1” > “This Thing” > “Am I In Heaven?”, the band reshuffles the configuration into “Boogieman Sam” > “Slow Jam 1” > “Am I In Heaven?” > “Self-Immolate.” While it’s incredible for the band to upload all the soundboard audio of the shows, there’s special attention and gratitude the community has rightfully developed towards the film crew Allen Dobbins and Jackson Devereux of Heaps Keen Films for giving the world a visual blog of the band’s perspective on stage, allowing iconic moments between band members and the audience to be fully archived for future enjoyment. The first iconic moment worth watching of the tour happens at the end of the first night, when Stu is given clippers by a crew member and proceeds to have a photographer in front of the stage shave his hair, or at least most of it, while Cavs is performing his routine drum improvisation during the opening of “Self-Immolate.” This ragged haircut would be seen for the rest of the tour, never altered from what was trimmed on stage. This fun-loving interaction between band and audience alludes to Stu’s habit of seeking change and adventure in any form during their travels around the world. Look no further than last year’s iconic crowdsurf swim through the audience in order to actually swim in the adjacent waters while the rest of the band improvises through “The Dripping Tap” in Maine. To be able to stream these moments live, and also rewatch them ad nauseum in the future, is something I will forever be grateful to Allen, Jackson, and the whole band and crew for providing to all of us. What a truly spoiled community we are.

A key feature of the band’s live performances for over a decade is the teasing of seemingly any song from their discography injected into live renditions of other songs. This tour seemed to take this approach even further, diving into the complete merging of songs. There were glimpses of this during the previous tour, especially the stellar ending to the Newport, KY performance with the “Iron Lung” / “People-Vultures” nicknamed as “Iron Vultures” for its unique blend. Similarly, several songs have begun to be played back to back, such as “Iron Lung” and “Hypertension.” The second show of the tour saw a further evolution of both concepts with the mesmerizingly mutilated rendition of “Hyper Lung.” Are they starting with “Hypertension”? Is it now “Iron Lung”? Are we back to “Hypertension”? Does it even matter? This is just incredible!

“Alright this one’s about crocodiiiiiiiillllles yeaaaaaaaaaaah wooooooooooo!” “Evil Death Roll” saw the band take a similar dip into “spacey” improvisation akin to “The River” in Chicago ‘23. Cavs is still playing with cymbals throughout this jamming, but there is a looseness to their interplay and experimentation that the band has seldom dipped into to this degree, resulting in an audial journey through tension and release, contraction and expansion.

Night three starts with a new merging of an incomplete “The Dripping Tap” into an absurdly soulful intro to “Magma.” Yes, yes, another highly recommended “Tap” and “Magma,” something that is seemingly suggested by every performance of either song as of late. I think that speaks both to the power of these two compositions and their vehicular ability to traverse diverse landscapes within the same song structure, as well as the band’s willingness to take such drives through their live catalog within these vehicles.

Similar to the 2024 North American tour, the synth table colloquially known by fans and band alike as Nathan, did not appear on stage the first few shows of the tour.Lisbon was not left without their own Nathan spectacle as the table was wheeled out on night three for some great extended versions of “Extinction” and “Set,” the latter notable for the first in a series of successful yet cautious attempts to merge songs between the table and the guitars. “Set” ends as “The River” starts to open up, a merging that can only excite the attentive fanbase already aware of the band’s desire to merge songs from Petrodragonic Apocalypse and The Silver Cord.

Barcelona

Night one saw what is arguably (in this writer’s opinion) one of the best Nathan sets of the tour with a single-song performance of “Gilgamesh.” I must admit that this is in the lower half of The Silver Cord tracklist for me, but this rendition has been on repeat since it dropped. The jamming throughout the song, stretched to just over 20 minutes, appears almost composed by how structured the song seems. While some of their synth table jams can stall at times while they figure out where they are going or where to land, this set seemed to excel within whatever constraints they may have imposed. A microphone can be seen through the streams, shared among members, mostly by Joey, as a means of internal communication during sets. This little detail displays the drive the boys have for improving their craft. And it shows, not just in the synth sets, but all throughout the tour. This tour’s synth table based songs are freshly evolved from a mere six months ago. Richmond 2024 saw the band merge guitars into the ending of “Theia,” but Barcelona night two sees them take it further by dropping the table all together and creating a beautifully psychedelic, dreamy rendition of “Theia” that segues into a fantastic one-two punch of “Wah Wah” into “Road Train.”

“I’m Not In Your Mind,” the second of four songs in the Mind Fuzz medley, is given its opportunity to shine and stretch out, teasing some of the earlier guitar iteration of “Theia” during its eight-and-a half-minute run time. As previously mentioned, the band has a historic habit of teasing songs throughout others, be it songs appearing in the same setlist or ones from throughout their discography. I think there has been a noticeable increase in the amount of teasing the band is doing of songs appearing directly in the same setlist. This trend is making an already well-structured setlist seem far more fluid and homogenous than previous performances of similar song combinations. Whether this is an intentional decision or not, the constant teasing of songs within the same setlist during jamming of other songs makes the whole show appear far more cohesive and intentional, a trait of recent live performances that I personally think makes their live act excel even further into musical bliss.

Night three at Poble Espanyol heard some of the largest amount of Elusive songs; 39% of the music was unique to this evening. Some songs like “Supreme Ascendancy” had not been played for over a year! “Cut Throat Boogie” was extended to almost three times the length of its studio equivalent. Elusive and extended at that. For the infographic I used “Magenta Mountain” as the icon for Elusive tracks. Speaking of which, the final night in Barcelona also saw a further evolution of the Gizz live discography with a dramatically altered “Magenta Mountain.” No more was the guitar outro dating back to the earliest performances of the tune in 2022. In place was an ethereal synth introduction followed by a synth-laden interstellar voyage leading into some incredibly haunting screams and wails from Amby before delving fully into “The Grim Reaper.” While the combination of these two songs has been performed a few times previous to this show, this writer thinks this specific combination is worth repeated listens.

Lithuania

The residency at Lithuania contains some of my favorite recent explorations at Gizz shows, both in their jamming and their use of the synth table. “Sad Pilot” was given an opportunity to spread out and relax with a dreamy middle jam, similar to the earlier tour iterations of “Antarctica,” getting close to almost the entirety of Flight b741 tracks being extended from the studio counterparts (the ones that have not remain incredibly precise and tight, as mentioned earlier with “Flight b741” and “Field of Vision”). While previous shows of the tour saw synth-dominant songs such as “Theia” extended further outside the table, the first show in Lithuania saw the beginning of a trend that can almost guarantee a new dip into uncharted territories; the band is beginning to open the back-catalogue to Nathan. This evening saw the first of these experiments with “Slow Jam 1” on the synth table, one of the older songs in (thankfully) continual rotation. The Slow Jams are some of my personal favorite Gizz vehicles and demonstrate the possibilities this band is able to explore in their music. I don’t think anyone expected to hear such a song on the table, but this direction alludes to some serious potentials later this year. But enough about that for now, back to the jam. Not only is this version of “Slow Jam” incredibly unique, it also highlights a treasured aspect of their live sound: Cookie’s guitar playing. While Stu and Joey switch to the table for “Slow Jam 1,” Cookie keeps the guitar on his shoulder and applies the warm, fuzzy blanket of psychedelia draped over their discography, one of the textural elements that bridges their songs into full musical landscapes. This is where he shines, and it’s most noticeable in the middle of the song. I love to see Stu and Joey explore the table, but this change also gives us the opportunity to really hear Cookie’s guitar playing and its vital role in the sound of the Gizzverse.

Night two in Lithuania delivered a further evolution of an already heavily jammed song when a common combo of “Rats in the Sky” into “Daily Blues” saw the Blues extend into unexplored territory during the middle segment, touching on a sound that has helped bring Deadheads through the door into the Gizzverse. While this middle jamming is worth a listen, an unexpected moment occurs at the end of the track when the band turns a tease into a full blown cover of the song “Jailbreak” by AC/DC. This was later proven to be spontaneous given its lack of inclusion on the printed setlist. I cannot think of a single time offhand that the band has performed a full cover of another artist’s music coming out of one of their own tunes. Last year saw the band perform an outstanding and memorable cover of the Yothu Yindi band’s song “Treaty,” but that was completely separate from any other song on the setlist and upon relisten appears almost as a scripted encore rather than what occurs during this special cover coming from the outro of “Daily Blues.”

Another noticeable moment of this show is the debut of the final portion of “Flamethrower,” written on the setlist as “Flamethrower (Outro).” Known on the studio album as the electronic bridge between Petrodragonic Apocalypse and The Silver Cord, the outro had yet to be performed prior to this tour. “Flamethrower” itself was the last song to be debuted from that album, with the Outro debuting about a year after the rest of the song. Following this debut, the band has now performed all of the studio songs from their past three albums: Petro through Flight b741 (this was written prior to the release of Phantom Island, which is planned to be performed in full at the upcoming orchestra shows). “Flamethrower (Outro)” was not performed at the end of the rest of the song, but following the conclusion of the synth table portion of the set, while the metal portion did contain the rest of the song, with a tasty “Motor Spirit” sandwiched between the two ends of “Flamethrower.” Due to all the jamming throughout night two, we see our first song cut from the setlist with “Crumbling Castle” not having enough time to transition into “The Fourth Colour” without passing curfew. But this is not a band that would ignore the opportunity to merge the shows with the start of night three containing the cut “The Fourth Colour” from the previous setlist. Ironically this version would not be jammed compared to other recent performances, even given the opportunity as the first song of the setlist. This would be a tight iteration of the tune before diving into a beautifully extended version of “Am I In Heaven?” If you’re going to watch one of them on the screen instead of listening to the audio, I highly recommend this show as your top choice. Reaching the middle of the residency, the band is running on full steam, the venue is a unique choice for a concert, and the fan interaction reaches an all-time peak when what seemingly starts as joking banter among the band members between songs develops into audience member Ignas being brought on stage after getting called out by Joey for his sign asking to play “Dragon” on Stu’s guitar. The energy and enjoyment was radiating from the screen and I couldn’t stop smiling. The crowd, the band, everyone enjoyed the moment and it is a perfect encapsulation of why so many people view this band as something special. “Down the Sink” saw a proper synth table return, absent from setlists since the 2023 US Residency tour. This jammy Lithuania residency concludes with an appropriately jammed “The Dripping Tap,” containing stage banter of the band expressing their love for the regional dish of Pink Soup they must have tasted earlier in their stay. At this point almost every show performed by this band is worth watching given the opportunity. But if you don’t have time to watch all the shows, or even a full three-show residency, I still highly recommend night three as the one to stream.

Athens

Greece has history with Gizz. From their last two performances in the country being some of their most unique with an absent Cavs replaced by a drum machine, to the filming of their fan-favorite music video “Ice V,” Gizz gets Greece and in return Greece gets the longest shows of the residency tour.

Similar to the other Flight b741 tunes that were given a chance to spread out and lay back, the first night of Athens saw the longest “Raw Feel” to date, a song that has been jammed to some capacity since it premiered, but never to this degree. “Boogieman Sam” saw Amby and Joey do a tasty back-and-forth call on harmonica and guitar that is highly worth watching on the screen to really enjoy the fun. There was another single-song synth segment featuring the longest “Chang’e” to date. This is a good one to check out, but I personally think the Barcelona “Gilgamesh” was a superior single-song synth set. One of my favorite “Her and I (Slow Jam 2)” versions since being privileged to witness the unbelievable 2022/11/02/ Red Rocks rendition. This version could be considered a perfect closer piece if it were not for the “Magma” that followed as the true closer of the evening.

Rolling into night two, “Iron Lung”… wow. Another favorite of mine and many others brought to another realm by some heavenly dueling piano playing by Amby and Cookie, accompanying some equally engaging guitar interplay between Joey and Stu. This is among the longest live versions of the song and once again shows that the band can excel when given extra time with certain song vehicles. This second evening in Athens overall contains some wonderful keys from Amby and Cookie, found on many songs including “Ambergris,” “Sad Pilot,” and a mesmerizing “Bitter Boogie.” “Kepler-22b” was another older tune (not seen since 2023) to receive a Nathan upgrade, stretching out to two-and-half times the length of its previous performance.

Night three in Athens saw a really great culmination of all the different musical evolutions I’ve mentioned taking place throughout the tour, condensed into just over two hours of music older songs given new life on the table, synth songs being jammed on guitars without the table, songs on the table transitioning into songs off the table, and plenty of jams throughout songs new and old, bringing them to new heights. “The Fourth Colour” was once again the complete opposite of the previous short and sweet performance from Lithuania with this one featuring a multi-segment jam, starting in metal territory before a “The Dripping Tap” tease begins to augment a bluesy rock jam, before turning back to the rest of the song. I find the recent “The Fourth Colour” jams incredibly inspiring due to the idea of a song lyrically describing the possibilities hidden within a new perspective and then jumping into these jams that are incredibly disparate from the rest of the song, almost as if the band is opening the door and opening our eyes without adding a single extra word. I must add that Polygondwanaland was the album that opened the door for me musically. “Straws in the Wind” is another moment worthy of watching on screen for a memorable dance by band manager Michelle’s son Laurence while Amby repeatedly tries to get him to sing along (to no avail, but the dancing was spot on). “Theia” got a similar treatment to the Barcelona arrangement, but took it further with the longest tease to date of the elusive’The Land Before Timeland.” A stellar “Ice V” would be dedicated to the country with the band expressing their love for Greece. The biggest surprise of the evening came with the debut of “Superposition,” a song from 2017 that has never been performed live. Not only was it performed, but it was taken to an extreme that practically disfigures it beyond the original studio song, transforming into a motorik cruise on the table before merging into a metal jam off the table that culminates in a mesmerizing “Float Along - Fill Your Lungs.” While this song has seen its share of metal-oriented middle jam sections over the past couple years, this specific rendition saw calls to “Motor Spirit” rather than the oft-repeated “Dragon” lyrics. Quite elegantly done, the band teases “Theia” throughout the outro, both a call to the mirror of “Motor Spirit” earlier in the same song, and the earlier performance of the guitar-heavy “Theia.” I think the best “Float Alongs” are those that take time to breathe at the end. There have been some really great heavy jams in the song as of late, but not too many have been given the chance to release in the outro as this version does (personal preference for this style are the 2019 versions of the song, but the best combination of both the metal and extended outro can be found on 10/15/2022 in Chicago when Stu and Joey are in perfect synchronization during the guitar interplay). This residency started with “Open Water” and ended with “Float Along”; it could be coincidence, or it could be another one of those small and beautiful details of the Gizzverse. Either way it’s wonderful. I think, after listening through each residency and taking some time to digest them before another relisten, Athens is stepping out above the rest.

Bulgaria

While Athens is my personal favorite residency, the final venue holds the distinction for the greatest amount of discography spread across three nights compared to the rest of the residency tour. An impressive twenty-two albums were covered across these three shows in Bulgaria, including the live debut of material from the album Timeland. There is a noticeable decrease in the amount of songs that are jammed during this residency, but this is also due to the breadth of the discography that is represented.

Night one sees another classic jam mutated via synth setup with “Hot Water” ala Nathan arrangement rather than guitars, stretched out to the longest version of any variation of “Hot Water” to date; Quite impressive given a decade of performing the song. A fantastic “Sea of Trees” is similarly mutated, this time with altered lyrics about friendship: “But I got my mates with me, and I guess that is that that’s that.” in place of “And when you're feeling suicidal, sometimes you've just got to end it, oh”. Maybe I’ve aged and it's a sentiment a younger me would’ve defended, or maybe it’s just healthier to believe lyrics regarding friendship are superior to thoughts of ending one’s life, but either way this author is open for a change in lyrics for such a good early song, one I am still chasing. These distinctly altered songs were followed by a segment from the “Altered Beast” suite, shortened to include only the portions not yet played during the residency. “Work this Time” also saw a mutation with a tense struggle between the jam turning into a full blown Joey solo and back again, several times over, with Lucas throwing in some tasty teases of “Mars for the Rich”. Even the final song of the evening, “The River” seemed to possibly be starting to head into new territory. It feels as jammy as recent “Rivers” have, but with a heavier metal flavor akin to the vibes of the Red Rocks ‘22 “The River.”

The middle of the Bulgaria residency shined brightest in the middle of its set. Night two saw two polarizing opposite compositions, “Intrasport” and “Sense,” switch places with the typical synth laden “Intrasport” being performed prior to the synth set with Stu on guitar and Joey solely on vocals. “Sense” saw the guitars swapped for Nathan and it might not make any sense playing “Sense” without guitars, but damn was it good and hopefully far from a one off (“testing,testing” November rave shows?). The end of the synth section saw the debut of “Smoke and Mirrors” from Timeland, at least part of it. While it wasn’t the strongest performance, arguably from nerves rather than lack of talent, it shows the band taking risks by playing parts from one of their most distinct and divisive albums to date.

Night three was another eclectic dip in the discography with multiple seldom seen songs hitting rotation, including “God is Calling Me Back Home,” “Most of What I Like,” “The Wheel” (please Stu, my dear lord, please make this appear at FoV…), “Plastic Boogie,” and “Hot Wax.” “Hog Calling Contest,” while not as extended as its b741 siblings, was given a slight lengthening with a raging outro reminiscent of the surprising merge into “Road Train” last September at the Gorge. This rendition was simultaneously greeted to some superb squeals from Sammy on his birthday. “Magenta Mountain” saw a unique combination of the revised guitar outro accented by a heavier table presence. The aforementioned renditions of “Plastic Boogie” and “Hot Wax” were snuck in the setlist between multiple metal songs; Witchcraft and Venusian 2. Closing the venue and tour with a fan favorite, “Rattlesnake” makes a single tour appearance as the band slithers away out of Europe.

Themes of the Residencies

So that was quite an extensive and incredibly subjective description of the individual residencies, but what are the takeaways after reviewing all the shows and creating an infographic to compare each of the fifteen performances? This is a band that not only seeks change (except for the song, which unfortunately was only performed a handful of times in 2023 and is now absent from their live repertoire outside of a portion performed in Boston last tour), they seem to thrive on it. There’s the exploration of older material with newly configured instruments. There are further trips into transitions between these new configurations and their more typical stage setup. There are even further experiments with songs old and new to see what they’re capable of, be it the majority of the then-newest album, or select songs within the Mind Fuzz suite. There are mergings of certain song combinations across multiple setlists to fluidly stitch different eras and styles from the “Muddy Water” > “The Bitter Boogie” combo, to the “Superposition” > “Float Along” combo, to the even more extreme ends of the catalog with “Cut Throat” > “Daily Blues”. There’s also an incredible 52 songs that were performed only once across fifteen shows. If there’s one thing you can be certain of when seeing Gizz live, it’s always going to be different in the best way possible. What a beautiful band.

Free Palestine. The most repeated phrase on stage and in the audience throughout the tour. Unfortunately there were confused and angered fans during the streams and afterwards on various social media platforms, vocally expressive in their confusion of the band’s desire to express their own perceived political positions during performances. This is and always will be an incredibly frustrating mentality directed towards this band and their growing and diverse community. Those vocal opponents of the band expressing their views to their audience frustratingly lack the ability to perceive the global conflict as an issue of human torture and genocide instead of their privleged perception that it is a debate topic for dinner tables and social chat forums but dare not appear at musical performances. Not everyone views these issues through a political lens. A lot of us simply view it as an issue of how some humans are abusing and killing other humans. But regardless of the lack of empathy for your/our own species, the other frustrating aspect of this feigned ignorance by some supporters of the band, is a seemingly surface-level enjoyment of their music based on the physical emotions it can exude, while completely glossing over the band’s significant use of scientific terminology, imaginative metaphors, and elaborative narratives throughout their music to explore and critique certain ideologies prevalent today. These same critical fans were online during the North American 2024 tour streams making the same arguments in reference to Joey’s multi-show shouts of “Kamala is Brat” and dedications of the songs “Pleura” and “Minimum Brain Size” to Donald Trump. “Orange baby squealing” applies to only so many people, but cognitive dissonance is a discomfort many are willing to brush away without much notice while idolizing their chosen politicians or, in this case, musicians. Nonetheless, the band is adamant in their support for human rights and equal treatment across our species, leading to frequent calls on stage supporting those suffering. That does not discredit their work as artists; it just enhances their understanding as human beings.

Differences from Recent Shows

So what was missing from this tour? What songs were not played that were featured in the last tour? The most noticeable gap was any material from the now-released album Phantom Island (which is not included in the infographic due to its release on June 13th, the final date of the tour concluding on June 10th, and the lack of any material played during the shows). While the album was not released until after the tour, “Grow Wings and Fly” had been performed multiple times in 2024, making its absence ahead of the orchestra shows a bit puzzling. There were more phantoms, though, than those from Phantom Island. “Interior People,” only the second song to be played from the sorely underperformed and underappreciated Butterfly 3000, and which premiered just last tour, was also noticeably absent. Painfully not a single song graced the setlists from the album Changes, another sorely underperformed and under-appreciated album. Eyes Like the Sky continues to be missed, a rare sight last performed in an almost-eulogy to Broderick Smith at the 2023 Hollywood Bowl marathon show. I think many fans would love to hear something from this album in future shows, but would also fully support the band if their decision truly is to retire those songs from rotation after the passing of Amby's father and the band's long-time collaborator.

Predictions for What Comes Next

I think the safest prediction coming out of this memorable residency tour is the palpable excitement for this fall’s European rave shows and the widening of synth table repertoire following this tour’s renditions of older material. Prior to this tour, I think most fans were expecting the rave shows to be similar to last year's San Francisco show, featuring predominantly The Silver Cord material. All bets are off the table at this point and I couldn’t be more excited.

I also have more hope for songs unheard in any live setting as the band continues to prove their interest in expanding their live catalogue not just with newly written songs, but attempts at transforming older songs not yet explored. This gives hopes for several songs I personally desire, and know others in the community would dream to experience live: “The Land Before Timeland,” “Candles,” “Hell’s Itch,” “Searching…”, “Exploding Suns,” “Yours,” “Dreams,” “Blue Morpho,” and pretty much all of the post-Covid catalog if I’m being honest. But no list would be complete for me without “Bone”… “But when I’m gone, and I’m dead, what will be inside my head?” You mean besides Gizz?

This past tour also gave hope for the return of songs that have fallen out of rotation or are seldom seen, such as “Persistence,” anything from Changes, “Presumptuous,” “Blame It On The Weather,” “Beginner’s Luck,” “Tetrachromacy,” “Red Smoke,” “God is in the Rhythm,” “Deserted Dunes,” “Empty,” and “30 Past 7,” just to name a few. I dream of a day where we are gifted by Stu with a soundboard recording of any of those songs that are missing in their absolutely massive live repertoire already released graciously to everyone forever.

With the upcoming Field of Vision festival following a string of strict setlist orchestra shows (and one standalone ‘rock’ show at Forest Hills), Gizz will have three planned marathon shows to perform nine hours of their discography. It will be the first time the band has performed three marathons in three days. Coming off an eclectic trip through Europe and improvisationally restricted by the limits inherent to the orchestra shows leading up to the festival, there’s no telling what lighting in a bottle will be waiting for us in Colorado. Hope to see some of you there and on the other side.

Bonus Album Chart