Please welcome to The King Gizzette, guest recapper Tony Theil. Tony works at the legendary Attic Records in Pittsburgh, PA. His favorite LP (“although what a difficult choice it is to make,” he notes) would be Polygondwanaland. He once went record shopping with members of the band, and on another occasion he loaned the band a turntable so that they could listen to a test pressing of an LP before their show. 8/25/24 in Newport, KY was Tony’s 12th King Gizzard concert. Follow him and Attic Records on Instagram.
If you're inclined to connect King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard to the Grateful Dead, you may already be familiar with the Deadhead advisory mantra, "never miss a Sunday show." This has never been more true when considering the concert delivered by the boys in Newport, KY this past Sunday. After total looseness (nearly to a fault) and acoustic microtonal magic in Detroit and an air-tight electric flight through lands both colorful & dark in Cleveland where the audience was treated to heaps of heavy metal riffing proceeding a cluster of up-tempo, feel good songs most of which came out within the past few years, expectations were elusive going into the Megacorp Pavilion.9 p.m. hits with soulful psychedelic music playing through the house system and a crowd anxious for what feels like THEIR band, their friends in some ways. The pace of life is noticeably slower here and I suppose this carries over into the start time as well. After a few more minutes of waiting, King Gizzard charges out and Stu quickly declares, “We’re gonna play rock music for a while and love each other a while.” What will they open with?
“All is Known,” perfect tempo, super tight, the band sounds just like it's 2017 again based on the sounds coming from stage:Turkish rhythms infused in their groove, squeezed tightly by a snaking vocal line & guitar leads, the keyboard stabs set everything into motion but the harp keeps it all so bluesy and driving. Ambrose is ALL over the music which is so warming and welcome given the past few nights have seemed to showcase the others much more than Ambrose, particularly considering his absence on stage while singing lead during two songs in Detroit.Directly following “All is Known,” we hear the opening melodies of “The Book” and feel Amby’s touch. Cavs makes use of space to stretch out with some nice breakbeats mid-way through the song and writes the book on how well the band can jam.
As the crowd sees Stu reach for his SG, the atmosphere gets VERY active: "rockin rockin rockin.”
Once the sea of fans chants to drink the gasoline, we are plowing through anything that stands in the way of the uninhibited spirit of the motor. Stu shouts the vocals, the crowd becomes a flag whipping in the wind, waving in dedication to the men on stage. Once the monster truck tire begins rolling in the crowd, the cameras are zoomed in on the circle pit. After a swig of water by all, Stu picks up into “Motor Spirit” where the band left off causing the all familiar headbanging and frown of approval as the riff comes back in but slower. “Gaia” speaks in the form of Stu screaming the title. This song is played as rich, thick and pummeling as ever, especially compared to the tease by Geese during their opening slot about an hour ago. After “Gaia” has been ripped in half, Cavs takes his chance to stretch out while the rest of the band watches. Within a minute or so, Stu is next to the drumkit, lunging back and forth in his "bent knee, ready for battle" stance that we've seen over time, typically while Stu holds his flute overhead. He studies and admires the melodies that Cavs brings out of his ever-growing setup. The two then lock in on some quick lines in 9/8 and showcase incredible interplay between guitar & drums. What a privilege it is to hear them improvise in real-time and play something mysterious and new. This feels like we are watching them write the song itself as the others march onto the solid foundation that has been built.
Clearly amplified by the response to “Gaia,” Stu steps to the mic and hollers, "Let's do this shit!" As “Converge” begins, the first crowd surfer of the night is sent from the center of the pit right up to the stage edge. This, alongside other tracks from Petro are bursting with energy and lighting pace. Joey steps up toward the riser and forms a triangle with Lucas and Cavs to lead the rhythm section into the bridge. There's a sense of excitement as the song comes to a smooth landing and Stu stomps right in front of his microphone to begin the next song. BAM! “Witchcraft” begins, just as it should, immediately bringing the volume and energy back to 10. With this, we have been given THE ENTIRE Petro LP over the course of two nights. I was fortunate to see the live debut of “Witchcraft” in Tennessee last year and it hit like nothing I had heard King Gizzard play before. Because there was no way to anticipate the journey of the song, I have been chasing it ever since! Tonight is expertly brewed and highly potent. Once again, this band is so tight after all of the years and witnessing Stu & Joey play simultaneous hammer-ons and pull-offs, right forefingers chasing their left digits, while they grip their picks with their lips, demonstrates the uniform mind of the group.
What followed was the steady, fist-pumping sing-along “Mars for the Rich.” Lucas' basslines in the breakdown featured a new enveloping effect that keeps his rootsy, tried-and-true playing feeling fresh. As the drop-tuned guitars get swapped for their more standard counterparts, the guessing game begins as to what's next. For those around me in Cleveland who were talking about hypothetical KGLW Boogie Nights, “Plastic Boogie” would have shot their brains into the darkened semi-southern sky! Within eight bars, the audience is clapping along nearly as loudly as the music coming from the stage. Ambrose once again rises to the top with his cutting turbo blues harp and unique vocal range. So many King Gizzard songs are written with an environmental edge and the message seems to resonate with their audience as they shout each word and "dance with the one that brung them."
“This Thing” brings Joey's vocals to the forefront, an element that feels underrated in a formerly Stu and Ambrose-driven catalog. The delight from hearing this track being broken out after many shows continues as the band makes good on their tease from two nights ago and begin “Slow Jam I.” The combination of raspy unison vocals, biting tone from Stu's trusty Yamaha Samurai, and the excitement of hearing an early cut makes this all feel incredible. Stu makes sure that we know that this song is for "when your brain chemistry feels out of whack." They get into a nice call and response part in the chorus then Ambrose adds some searching saxophone lines. This appears to inspire Stu into an ecstatic guitar solo where your mind just starts climbing higher and higher. From here, we get an electric version of “Sense.” The sultry, walloping groove has me dreaming and dubbing this a very heady version of the song.
Next up “Hog Calling Contest” gets hinted around and teased which would have completed Flight b741 within the past three nights. Ambrose put on a pig mask and began snorting and reciting “This Little Piggy” while Cavs transformed into a dixie-fried version of Gene Krupa playing “Sing Sing Sing” with Benny Goodman. Out of this brief improvisation, “Field of Vision” kicked in with heavyweight champion energy! I watched as the pit shouted along to the first chorus, each with their hand raised in the air, swatting at the air to punctuate each syllable. When the weirdo swarm gets fired up like this, their combined voice matches the levels coming from the stage. Using this monster energy, the band propels into “Rats in the Sky,” a feel-good slice of rock music with instant Ambrose hooks. Despite this being a repeat from Detroit two nights ago, this song has a whole new element when played through electric instruments and in front of a large, open pit on a high stage rather than fixed theater seats merely three feet from the front row. “Flight b741” brings the tempo down and establishes a danceable mood right away. The new songs shine so brightly among members of the audience who sing so loudly and passionately that it would be impossible to consider their newest a step in any wrong direction. This aspect fascinated me because so many bands with fewer songs, fewer albums, fewer EVERYTHING are subject to the eyeroll of the crowd when they play new songs. But I watched closely as people danced and joined in the singing during each track. A big success for the band was giving everyone a microphone and chance to sing. The transition from one frontman to a band full of featured players has been such a joy to experience! After pondering this for a minute, I snap back into the present and get the feeling that we are about to go back in time for the next bit.
What better way to rev up the entire venue than to launch into some Nonagon material. Announced as a hard, deep cut, “Big Fig Wasp” is summoned to fly across the pit, over the seated V.I.P. area, and above the densely-packed lawn here in Kentucky. After the unrelenting pace, the band shows no sign of stopping as they blast into “Gamma Knife.” Just as a Deadhead expects” Fire on the Mountain” to come after “Scarlet Begonias,” the band begins to play the "Some Context" riff and everyone is braced for a nice slick transition into “People Vultures” but... instead Stu sings and plays a bit of “Iron Lung.” In the moment, it feels like one of the many teases that have been inserted into other jams in the recent years of King Gizzard live shows. The longer it goes on, the more possibilities there seem to be. Will they skip “People Vultures”? Will they play “Iron Lung”? Is there another tease that Stu has on deck? Before the mind can turn any more, the familiar vocal/guitar opening of “People Vultures” beams out of the mega sound system. After a minute or so, the band takes another pause and Stu once again transitions into “Iron Lung.” Now everyone is smiling, full of wonder and anticipation. They are shattering their own mold here, letting us know that we can't predict what's next no matter how many shows we have seen and heard, no matter how many bootlegs that we indulge ourselves with. “People Vultures” ends and naturally, here comes “Iron Lung,” right?
No, not at all. In a quick spin, the song that begins playing is “Work This Time.” Alright, cool, Joey is taking the lead again, given the ample spotlight that he has earned. The collective heartbeat of the audience is beating faster as we can nearly taste how amazing Joey's guitar solo outro will be. It's getting late, there's a curfew, perhaps “Iron Lung” was supposed to be played but it got scrapped due to time constraints so they still teased a few minutes of it. We will all leave happy. It has been an amazing evening of music from throughout their career. Joey sings the final chorus, holds out "work this tiiiiiiiiiime" and we get a moment of rest before he is going to go wild on his black mock-Strat. Then... Cavs is playing a breakbeat and Ambrose quickly begins riffing vocally and snorting while Joey solos over top. This is an interesting way to close out “Work This Time.” Cavs begins hitting double stops and leaving room for Joey to solo and sing along in real time. My mind is blown right now!! The tempo begins to pick up as Cavs and Joey challenge each other and now I realize that King Gizzard are truly opening up their music. I check the time and my phone reads 11:08 p.m., which is my birthdate and the date that I bought the tickets for this show. Suddenly I am snapped out of my thoughts by “Iron Lung.” Is this real?! Tonight has been one revelation after another. Consider that their setlist is written down, in order but the space between each song is completely up to them. What they give us is the most live performance possible. No longer is their path straight; for years they have had their songs set up as stones to move between, from point A to point B. They would sometimes change their pace, maybe touch a toe to the stone in front of them but stay firmly rooted where they stood before they took their full step. But tonight has proven that the band is now able to pivot onto any stone of their choosing, making some of the purest music everywhere they walk.