After a long and tough journey through what's considered some of the most flat and repetitive-looking land in the southern hemisphere, the sight of Deniliquin's Festival Site appeared on the horizon to my relief. A pilgrimage, if you will, made by only the most daring and excitable of Australian KGLW fans.

The day was hot and dry, 39C to be exact at around 12pm. This didn't stop the weirdo swarm from getting down and sweaty, by the time King Gizzard were taking the stage (9:30pm) the temp had dropped to about 36C - somewhat manageable without the sun being out. After an awesome day of other artists' entertainment and a fireworks show preceding the boys arriving to the stage, it was time to enjoy what we were all here for.

Something notable worth mentioning was the gear setup; many of the usual staple instruments used by the boys were replaced during this set: Stu’s iconic blue Yamaha SG-2A Flying Samurai was replaced with a white Yamaha SG-7, Joey’s usual flying V was replaced with a black Solidbody Holy Explorer and Stu’s Explorer was replaced with a Gibson SG of his own. The amps were also brought from home, with Joey telling the crowd he was using Ambrose’s old amplifier – this was the amp that failed during The Dripping Tap which saw Joey switch over to Ambrose’s keyboard.

The set started off with a groovy rendition of Boogieman Sam, which contained a bluesy jam speculated to include some riffs/motifs from the upcoming ‘classic rock’ album that’s been talked about recently. This opener went on about 8 minutes longer than the studio version and is worth a listen! After that, the boys launched into a face-melting version of The Dripping Tap, coming in at 20 minutes and including teases from Motor Spirit & The Funeral, and it also contained a jam section. As mentioned previously, Joey’s amp that he borrowed from Ambrose ‘blew up’ during this song, leading to those two switching places and Joey jumping on the keys. Something different compared to a usual performance of this song!

Up next was a very special performance of a song that was spiritually very close to this show’s location. Willoughby’s Beach was played pretty much bar-for-bar as the studio version is. A classic song for long-time fans of King Gizzard, this song was introduced with some banter from Ambrose about the smell of the water down there (“like Stu’s butthole”). Joey also teased the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Can’t Stop” riff just before this song to test his new amp out. Stu said it sounds like a Marshall Stack + Joey said it sounds like he’s in The Vines. At the end of the song Joey jokes “the good old days, when our songs were easy” and “we still fucked it up though!”

Straight afterwards, the boys slowly fade into the next song, jamming with a brief ambient soundscape until the intro chords and drum beat for Iron Lung are played. This was an awesome performance of a fan favourite which was played very accurate to the studio version and included some high energy vocals from Ambrose during the “frog breath, steam tent” verse.

Next up came the heavier section of the show, containing favourites from PetroDragonic Apocalypse, Infest the Rat’s Nest and Omnium Gatherum. This section of the show begins with Joey jokingly explaining to Stu the guitar tuning – “So you gotta drop the G# to an F#” and then some banter about how Joey taught Stu finger-tapping. Joey tells the crowd that his guitar idol is Steve Vai – this makes a lot of sense considering Joey’s intricate guitar solos that are reminiscent of those played by Frank Zappa/Steve Vai during their tours.

Witchcraft and Mars for The Rich got the heavier section going, both played with a lot of accuracy to the studio recordings. Joey shouted out Baker Boy (another artist playing during the festival) after Mars for The Rich and was praising his prolific songwriting abilities in relation to his new album – “he’s got 80 songs to choose from, he’s cut it down to 60”.

The boys then launched into a classic Gaia / Gila Monster / Gaia sandwich – with a HUGE drum solo to get the crowd cheering loudly for Cavs, the hometown hero. The other boys were sitting down on the stage during this solo, really allowing the spotlight to be on Cavs while they relaxed and played some chuggy riffs under his solo. This performance of the two songs together lasted just over 14 minutes and was met with a loud cheer from the crowd.

Next up was the Australian live debut of the classic single from PDA, Dragon! The crowd were singing the riffs + lyrics and getting into the moshpit with the infectious energy this song bleeds. Played very accurately to the studio version, including Joey’s fierce latin verse, this was a perfect way to conclude the heavier section of the show.

KG’s set finished up with one Microtonal cut, Billabong Valley, which was started off with a shoutout to Ned Kelly by Ambrose. Stu was shredding out and dancing while playing Ambrose’s keyboard as they did the classic keyboard/flying banana switcheroo. It had a nice little jam halfway through to lead up to the next section of the song which also saw Ambrose put down the flying microtonal banana guitar, removing the microphone from the stand in preparation for his descent into the crowd. That he did, as he came to the front of the stage before jumping off to be right in front of everyone after the chorus. Somebody threw a hat onto his head which he donned like a champion while belting out the rest of the song.

The show ended with Joey saying “that’s it from us, get home safe, don’t hit any roos” while Stu messed around with some trippy synthesizer sounds. Stu also said “we’d love to play more but they told us we have to go home now”. Rattlesnake was cut from the setlist after Billabong Valley, and Slow Jam 1 was also meant to be played after Iron Lung. Cavs came to the front of the stage at the end to throw out his drumsticks which was met with a huge cheer from the Deni crowd. That puts a wrap on the awesome performance which was well worth the journey.