Exciting Music Wizardry by King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard at Forest Hills Stadium

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard’s biggest New York City-area fans were pressed against the barrier in front of the stage at the open-air Forest Hills Stadium. The early weather forecasts had predicted rain for only before and after the show times. As the day progressed, this was not to be.

The stadium doors opened at 5 p.m. The first act, DJ Crenshaw, was scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. Crenshaw was held back as storm clouds approached. By 6 p.m., torrential rain pummeled the audience. Preparing for possible lightning, the audience was forced to evacuate the bowl of the stadium and stand protected in the concourse under the seats. Like DJ Crenshaw, Die Spitz, scheduled to perform at 6:30 p.m., was unable to perform.

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard was supposed to start at 7:30 p.m., but the audience was still sheltered in place at that time. The lightning passed but the incessant rain had not when the audience was allowed back into the bowl close to 7:30 p.m. By the time the headliner strolled on stage at 8 p.m., the fans were well soaked.

This was how the first of three Gizzard nights began at Forest Hills Stadium on August 20. This was also pretty much how the night ended, as the rain lightened only from about 8:45 until 9:45 p.m. King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard ended the concert as it began, performing in pouring rain until the venue’s 10 p.m. curfew.

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard formed in Australia in 2010, and presently consists of Stu Mackenzie (vocals, guitar, flute), Ambrose Kenny-Smith (vocals, harmonica, keyboards, saxophone), Cook Craig (guitar, keyboards, vocals), Joey Walker (guitar, vocals), Lucas Harwood (bass, vocals), and Michael Cavanagh (drums, vocals). The prolific band released its 28th album, Alien Metal, on August 14. Ironically, at the first night of a three-night residency at Forest Hills Stadium, the band performed no songs from the new album nor any from the previous two albums. The evening’s repertoire consisted of tracks from nine albums issued from 2016 to 2023.

For the abbreviated two-hour set, KGLW played almost non-stop, compressing 17 songs and countless jams almost into one seamless work. Fans made the best of the circumstances, with frequent mosh pits splashing in large puddles and waves of fans wearing rain ponchos crowd surfing nearly continuously towards the stage barrier. Behind the band, glitch art used modern digital techniques, including pixel sorting, color shifts, data bending and datamoshing, to display kinetic brushes of color that accompanied the frenetic energy of the band’s music.

The rain continued battering the entire audience as KGLW came onto the covered stage a half hour later than originally intended. Before starting the delayed and shortened performance, lead vocalist Stu Mackenzie apologetically spoke to the audience. “We’re gonna play as much music as we possibly can, until they tell us to piss off.”

The sextet opened with “Extinction” from the 2023 album The Silver Cord. The band normally plays “Extinction” on a modular synthesizer rig they named Nathan; on this night, the band performed the song in its “metal arrangement” for only the second time ever, following its debut at the previous weekend’s Field of Vision II festival in Colorado. “Extinction” contained “Flamethrower” quotes from the extended mix.

KGLW prepares a different setlist every night, never duplicating. On this night, the band acknowledged the treacherous weather by including the 2017 Murder of the Universe rager "The Lord of Lightning" for the first time in several months. Mysteriously, the downpour decreased significantly as the song was performed. The heavy rainfall returned just a few minutes after the band started “Open Water.”

The six musicians exhibited extraordinary chemistry, as the psych-rock innovators performed a marathon of genre-shifting arrangements that flowed with barely a pause, from thrash metal to microtonal experimentation to psychedelic jams. Guitars wailed, percussion pounded, and bass and keyboards fleshed out the sound. Something stimulating was happening at all times, whether it was a rephrasing of a vocal, a soaring, improvisational guitar lead, or an ensemble riff that held the songs together and then escorted a transition to the next song.

“What a strange and beautiful show,” guitarist Joey Walker summarized as the program began drawing to a close. Indeed, it was a thrilling show, never to be repeated, as King Gizzard and the Wizard Lizard never clones a concert setlist. The band would follow with a dry show the next night, a rave show the following night, and a recently added rave show at Under the K Bridge Park on Sunday.

Setlist

1. Extinction (metal arrangement; with Flamethrower quotes)

2. Converge (>)

3. Witchcraft

4. Inner Cell (>)

5. Loyalty (>)

6. Horology

7. Evil Death Roll (with The Land Before Timeland, Ice V, and The Lord of Lightning teases; introduced as Cyboogie)

8. Theia (rock version; with Float Along - Fill Your Lungs, Motor Spirit, Theia, Land Before Timeland teases) (>)

9. The Reticent Raconteur (>)

10. The Lord of Lightning (->)

11. I'm in Your Mind (>)

12. I'm Not in Your Mind (with unrecognized quotes from Kenny-Smith) (>)

13. Cellophane (with Am I In Heaven? and Dragon teases) (>)

14. The Balrog (with Am I In Heaven? teases)

15. Straws in the Wind (with unrecognized quotes from Kenny-Smith)

16. Open Water

17. Float Along – Fill Your Lungs (with Dragon jam with lyrics)

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The Manhattan Beat covers New York City's live music circuit. All articles are written by Everynight Charley Crespo. All photographs are taken by Everynight Charley Crespo, except when noted otherwise.

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