King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, tour review: Psychedelia with real power

This Melbourne band are nothing if not versatile, says Andre Paine
Frantic and frazzled: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard were best at full throttle
Andrew Benge/Redferns/Getty Images
Andre Paine19 February 2016

With their gonzo band name and mind-bending music released at a rate of a couple of albums a year, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard are the latest Australian psychedelic group making an impact. They’re still a way off the arena success of Tame Impala, but this NME Awards concert was comfortably sold-out.

Featuring two long-haired singers, a pair of drummers and three guitarists on stage, King Gizzard brought power and purpose to their sinuous psych-rock. While the rudimentary backdrop visuals could have appeared at any vaguely trippy music event of the last 40 years, their performance was audacious.

Perhaps the main surprise was the amount of new material. There was a hard-rock heft to Robot Stop and Gamma Knife, though they really tested out too many unfamiliar tunes. When they journeyed into recent albums, King Gizzard aligned frantic, frazzled psychedelia with muscular musicianship. Headbanging frontman Stu Mackenzie contorted his body as he wrestled with his guitar, while fellow vocalist Ambrose Kenny-Smith added blasts of squally harmonica.

The Melbourne band are nothing if not versatile, and this set included languid 10-minute jazz odyssey The River as well as the odd pop of Trapdoor. But King Gizzard were at their best on the full-throttle freakout of Cellophane and a clattering encore of Am I in Heaven?, which had fans chanting at least part of the unwieldy group name in appreciation of this psychedelic rock experience.

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