King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard wrapped the biggest North American tour of its career last night (Nov. 2) with the last of three sold-out, three hour-marathon shows at Red Rocks Amphitheatre outside Denver, a run that featured no repeats amid 85 different songs drawn from the Australian rock band’s 23 different albums.
After delivering two dazzling shows on Oct. 10-11 at the mountain venue, Gizzard returned last night for the last show on a two-leg trek that started way back in San Diego on April 11. The tour played to sold-out rooms across the country, including Gizzard’s largest New York-area performance in front of 8,500 fans at Forest Hills Stadium on Oct. 21. Members of the band’s thriving and ever-growing Gizxverse fan community were out in greater numbers than ever, trading homemade Gizzard art and bootlegs and planning pre-show meet-ups at local watering holes.
Last night’s first set was highlighted by a blistering opening run of five songs from the 2017 cyborg/murder concept album Murder of the Universe, and later, “Cut Throat Boogie,” “Wah-Wah,” and “Road Train” were played straight through without so much as a pause. The set wrapped with a powerful one-two punch of the wobbly, trippy “Crumbling Castle” and “The Forth Colour.”
The second set opened with major fan favorite “Head On/Pill,” long a staple of the Gizzard live repertoire. Drummer Michael “Cavs” Cavanagh cranked out solos before and after the trashy metal of “Venusian 2,” leading into the meat of the set with standouts such as “Static Electricity” and “Let Me Mend the Past.” The show wrapped with the epic psychedelia of “Float Along – Fill Your Lungs,” its title mirroring the unique journey Gizzard has taken since forming around Melbourne in 2009.
The band released three different studio albums last month, bringing its 2022 total to five. Once back in Australia, Gizzard plans to start fresh on new material after clearing through a significant backlog this year.
“Conceptually, a couple of things have been mapped out that we’ll dive headfirst into when we get home,” group member Joey Walker told SPIN. “As far as stuff that’s locked and loaded, there actually isn’t a huge amount. That’s kind of weird for Gizzard, but it’s just due to how long we’ve been out on the road this year.”
All three Red Rocks shows are available for streaming through Nugs.net.
