Inside The Weird And Wonderful World Of King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard’s Live Show
A mesmerising exercise in synchronicity and pinpoint precision.
Not even a year on from their Australian live debut, Tropical Fuck Storm have evolved into a well-oiled machine.
Sure, they have the advantage of one half of the band being husband and wife who had already been playing music together for 15 years — frontman Gareth Liddiard and bassist Fiona Kitschin — but it says a lot about how quickly the band has evolved that they’ve developed a set that’s equal parts festival ready as it is headliner material.
What happens, then, when a proverbial spanner is thrown in the works?
When the band emerges, the figure behind the drum-kit is at once familiar and unfamiliar. It’s Cec Condon — from bands like The Mess Hall and The Tremors — and not Lauren Hammel, TFS’ usual tub-thumper.
As it turns out, Condon has been brought in as a last-minute fill-in. His trad-grip snare whacks and lurching cymbal sizzles are certainly a contrast to Hammel’s hard-and-fast approach, but this impressively reworks tracks like ‘You Let My Tyres Down’ and ‘Rubber Bullies’ collectively with a freer, almost jazz-like feel.
The other three remain locked in, playing a little looser to the touch but never going so far as to fall off the wagon. Besides, when the set concludes with a beloved Drones classic in ‘Baby²,’ they’re all firmly on the same page — and so is the largely-unfamiliar audience.
Photo via King Gizzard Facebook
A period of relative absence has only made the hearts of King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard’s fans grow fonder — and Sydney’s Enmore Theatre is packed wall-to-wall as testament. The crowd is raring to go, giving a hero’s welcome to each member as they do their own soundcheck (respect, by the way).
The biggest cheer is reserved for multi-instrumentalist Ambrose Kenny-Smith, anchored by a moonboot and propped up by his keyboard stool (again, respect). Soon, the unmistakable microtonal riffage of ‘Rattlesnake’ kicks in. From there, we’re off to the races — tonight is a breakneck, high-speed tour through the band’s discography, featuring songs from 10(!) of their 13(!) albums.
It’s a set of tessellation and mix-and-match: The suite of ‘I’m in Your Mind’ and ‘I’m Not in Your Mind,’ for instance, takes a demonic detour into ‘The Balrog’ from last year’s ’70s-metal homage Murder of the Universe.
Later, the band undertakes a journey of peaks and valleys as they drift through ‘The River,’ a 10-minute jam that’s acidic and jazzy without ever becoming acid jazz. When it reaches its quietest, the band mirrors Johnny O’Keefe and gets a little bit louder now, care of Nonagon Infinity‘s 5/4 wig-out ‘Wah Wah.’
Tonight is a breakneck, high-speed tour through the band’s discography, featuring songs from 10(!) of their 13(!) albums.
The striking projector visuals accentuate every dip, dive and desolation in the near-breathless 90 minutes, but the band is entertaining enough to watch on their own accord — Stu Mackenzie often pretzels himself as he shreds away, while engine-room drummers Eric Moore and Michael Cavanagh are a mesmerising exercise in synchronicity and pinpoint precision.
The night finishes on an extended jam on ‘The Bitter Boogie,’ a Daddy Cool-esque throwback from 2015’s Paper Mâché Dream Balloon. It’s the first time the band has ever played it live, and there’s a certain joy to watching it unfold — especially when Kenny-Smith stands up for the first time and hops over to Mckenzie’s mic to deliver the final verse.
By extension, there’s a certain joy to the entire evening — a band that hasn’t slowed down in over half a decade taking stock of their creations before pushing forward once more. See you next time for album number 14.
David James Young is a writer and podcaster that resides in the centre of the Gizzverse. He tweets at @DJYwrites.
Lead photo via King Gizzard Facebook