On Monday, Nov. 4, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard trucked up the California coast to Stanford University’s Frost Amphitheatre for the fourth performance in its Fall Tour. Following triumphant stagings through the weekend at Inglewood, Calif.’s Kia Forum, Paso Robles, Calif.’s Vina Robles Amphitheatre and San Diego’s Rady Shell at Jacobs Park–where the band delivered a rare acoustic performance–the pioneering six-piece ensemble greeted the Bay with an explosive 18-track single-set show lined with longtime live essentials and fresh fan favorites alike. As an added treat, the band brought on the live debut of the beloved 2021 original “Interior People,” the novelty of which underscored the neo-psychedelia forerunners’ restless progress since.
King Gizzard stormed the stage with the brutal, sludgy, distortion-heavy “Superbug” from the 2019 album Infest the Rat’s Nest, one of the band’s first formal forays into a metal-influenced style. Next, the group turned to the ripping hell ride of 2013’s “Supercell,” which shows tremendous growth in its total embrace of thrashing speedcore on Petrodragonic Apocalypse. This electrifying energy sped the sextet into a four-track medley, issuing fully transitioned, jam-heavy treatments of the first cuts on I’m In Your Mid Fuzz.
The first entry from Gizz’s recent 26th studio album Flight b741 arrived with the high-flying, hand-clapping, twangy lead single “Le Risque,” which primed the crew for a nosedive into the bluesy, beat-switching thrills of album closer “Daily Blues.” “Cut Throat Boogie” brought the band back to the 2012 sophomore album 12 Bar Bruise, then dropped into the moody, quick and quiet “Trapdoor.” This mellow groove slipped subtly into “The Garden Goblin” for a low-key breather amid the exhilarating show.
From the cascading synth anthem “Gondii,” King Gizzard electrified the crowd as it merged into the long-awaited live debut of “Interior People.” For the first-ever public performance of trancelike synth-pop standout from Butterfly 3000, guitarist Joey Walker took on lead vocal duties and brought on a moving, emotional treatment of the introspective song he penned in 2021. After this definite highlight, the band veered back into its chaotic shenanigans as frontman Stu Mackenzie adorned himself in clothes strewn on the stage for a rubber-burning “Hog Calling Contest.” Gizz then merged “Field of Vision” into “Raw Feel,” blasted through “Magma” and closed with a sprawling jam on “The Dripping Tap.”
Watch King Gizzard’s live debut of “Interior People” below. The band will return to the spotlight tomorrow, Nov. 6, for a special experimental rave performance of its 2023 project The Silver Cord in its entirety at San Francisco’s Regency Ballroom. For tickets and more information, visit kinggizzardandthelizardwizard.com.
Read on for the complete setlist from Monday night. Read up on King Gizzard’s upcoming orchestral album and tour here.
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard
Frost Amphitheatre – Stanford, Calif.
11/4/24
Set: Superbug, Supercell, I’m In Your Mind > I’m Not In Your Mind > Cellophane > I’m In Your Mind Fuzz, Le Risque, Daily Blues → Cut Throat Boogie → Trapdoor, The Garden Goblin, Gondii → Interior People+, Hog Calling Contest, Field of Vision > Raw Feel, Magma, The Dripping Tap
Notes:
+ Live debut.
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