Words by TimelandisWacky
In a rush and can’t read the full recap? Make sure to check out: "Sad Pilot," "Hot Water" -> "Sea Of Trees," and "Straws In The Wind."
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard have started their 2024 European tour off with a bang! The opening show at the Forest National in Brussels on 2024-05-15 featured a number of highlights well worth a listen from a high energy “Iron Lung” -> Hypertension > “Work This Time” to a fiery, “PetroDragonic Apocalypse”-filled metal section which included the live debut of “Flamethrower.” It’s a great show but Gizzard isn’t done bringing the heat, as 2024-05-16 is a full on face melter with many surprises and the debut of a completely new song!
The band started with a nearly fifty minute long opening sequence of “Gamma Knife” > “People-Vultures” > “Mr. Beat” -> “Boogieman Sam” -> “Sad Pilot’ -> “Hot Water” -> “Sea of Trees”.
“Gamma Knife” is played somewhat loose here with the band switching adding a long improvisational section before moving into the song proper before going back into new territory with a heavy PetroDragonic-like jam where the drum solo is. Flying out of that we land in “People-Vultures” which continues the dark improv-trend we’ve seen with that song on the 2024 South American tour. Joey even seems to lean into the song’s newfound edge with a quick “Down With The Sickness” call in the final breakdown. Not yet done with Nonagon Infinity, the band launched into a bouncy “Mr. Beat” which ventures into some funky territory with “Her and I (Slow Jam 2)”-like hammer-ons.
Still in the jam mindset, Gizzard smoothly enters “Boogieman Sam” which goes well, though the surprising element is what it leads into. With no introduction, Cavs slows the tempo down as Ambrose’s harmonica blares. Here the band go into a jam, though the well rehearsed nature of it makes it clear fast that this isn’t something we’ve heard before. What we got was “Sad Pilot,” a blues/country rock tune similar to the work of The Black Crowes sung by Joey, Ambrose and occasionally Stu. The band plays it well, giving a great introduction to their upcoming twenty-sixth album. As this winds down, the band enters a high energy “Hot Water” which opens with Ambrose playing saxophone before Stu joins in with his flute. This ends up going into some heavy territory by the end with Stu throat singing the lyrics and a “Witchcraft” tease. To wrap up this massive jam, the band goes into the 12 Bar Bruise fan favorite “Sea of Trees” which carries with it a few surprise teases; most notably a tease of the extended “Chang’e.”
After over forty five minutes of non-stop jamming, the band picks up their microtonal instruments and head into a groovy “Nuclear Fusion” with an intro from a fan named Eleni which Joey called “the best one.” The next song “Minimum Brain Size” is introduced as a song about “Neanderthals” and goes over well. Ambrose gets the mic for a great “Straws In The Wind” that features loads of audience participation as usual. That said, the quotes in this aren’t usual. While a quick “Iron Lung” section gets heavy, Ambrose also digs into the obscure with a few lines from the Made In Timeland song “Smoke & Mirrors” as well as what appears to be another new song that we have not heard yet.
From here on out the band go heavy with a noticeable focus on their 2019 album Infest the Rats’ Nest. The Jason Galea-dedicated “Self Immolate” is a brutal highlight of the show with its fast pace and an incredible solo by Cavs (accompaniment from the rest of the band). A blazing “Planet B” follows behind with a heavy “Perihelion” rounding out the Infest picks. Stu downtunes at the end of the song and the band gets into a great “Gila Monster” which features Ambrose screaming his lungs out. Typically “Gila Monster” is sandwiched between “Gaia” but here it actually follows behind, bringing a giant end to the show with another wild drum solo and a brutal return to the song’s final section.
We’re only two shows into the band’s EU tour but the energy is high. The band is playing well, the jams are diverse and fantastic, the teases and quotes are pulling from deep within the band’s discography and the debuts are out of this world. At this point it’s hard to know what’s next and this is only the beginning of a major leg for this year. Strap in, it’s looking to be a wild ride.