King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard are no longer the rarity in America that they once were. Nowadays, they tour the United States in some capacity seemingly every time they release an album (26 of those, and counting).

Not surprising, then, Australia’s wildest psychedelic rock band has adapted some best practices from and made inroads with certain cultures that are unique to the American music landscape. Chief among those is the jam scene, which was evident all around King Gizzard’s show at the Kia Forum in Inglewood on the first night of November.

For one, their shows—this one included—now tend to feature a KGLW version of “Shakedown Street,” with fans hawking custom merchandise and other wares at a pop-up marketplace in the parking lot. On this night, in particular, King Gizzard channeled their inner Grateful Dead-meets-Aussie psych metal with a three-hour marathon set whose frenetic pace hardly (if ever) let up.

Even so, it’s not as though these hard-charging Melbourne boys have turned their backs on The Outback. That they brought along King Stingray, a rock band from “The Bush” in Australia’s Northern Territory, to open for said three-hour set is but one testament to King Gizzard’s enduring ties to their home country. (For the record, if ever there’s an opportunity to see a rock band infuse its music with a didgeridoo—as King Stingray does—take it.)

If anything, the extended format of King Gizz’s Friday performance felt like being in a garage with Stu Mackenzie, Ambrose Kenny-Smith, Joey Walker, Cook Craig, Lucas Harwood, and Michael Cavanagh as they worked out, in real time, the musical direction of their umpteenth album. Though the band’s stylistic repertoire is expansive—with ample notes of indie rock, folk, jazz and plenty else in between—their live shows tend to skew toward their heavier, more metallic tendencies. That was just as true for this opener of the second leg of this tour.

From the get-go, Joey told the crowd that King Gizzard would be rocking out, and they proceeded to do just that with a head-banging triptych of “Mars For the Rich”, “Planet B”, and “Hell”, all off 2019’s Infest The Rats Nest. Later on, that thrash-filled record kicked off another face-melting run with “Self-Immolate”, featuring a prodigious metal jam that gave way to “Dragon” and “Flamethrower” from 2023’s PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation.

In keeping with how they produce their music at a prolific pace by locking into a style or theme and running with it, KGLW pieced together their 180 minutes onstage with discrete chunks from album to album. There was the early-stage psychedelia of 2014’s I’m In Your Mind Fuzz that came in by way of “Slow Jam” and “Am I in Heaven?”, with “This Thing” sandwiched in between, and there was the microtonality of “Straws in the Wind” bleeding into “O.N.E.”, just as 2020’s K.G. begat 2021’s L.W.—and, set-wise, just before 2017’s Flying Microtonal Banana left its mark with a back-to-back of “Sleep Drifter” and “Nuclear Fusion”.

For the bluesy portion of the proceedings, KGLW turned to their latest release, 2024’s Flight b741. The Los Angeles audience got its first collective taste of “Antarctica”, “Daily Blues”, and “Field of Vision”, with “Boogieman Sam” and its “Bitter Boogie” jam mixed in to maintain the vibe. With Ambrose’s downhome harmonica already in play, KGLW burst into some psychedelic blues metal during a stretch of “Robot Stop”, “Big Fig Wasp”, and “Gamma Knife”—the same trio that opens 2016’s Nonagon Infinity.

The band toned down the intensity a bit further with the jazzy jams of “Ice V” before cranking it back up for “The Lord of Lightning” and “The Balrog”, the former featuring teases of “Cellophane”.

As is customary for King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, there was also plenty of playful silliness on offer throughout their marathon set. Stu routinely paced, whizzed, and jumped around the stage while rocking out; Ambrose managed to make use of his many instruments, despite having limited use of his left arm due to a broken elbow; Mickey Cavs spent the waning moments of the show not on drums, but meandering around the stage, sipping a beer and singing into a microphone. In his case, it helped that Jay Weinberg, formerly of Slipknot and currently of Suicidal Tendencies, sat in on drums for a show-closing “Le Risqué”, complete with Jay’s wife, Chloe, contributing the line, “Okay, let’s ride.”

But guest spots were hardly limited to known friends of the band. The final track began with the band imploring one of the pit photographers to imitate Cavs’ laugh. Earlier in the set, they pulled an older fan—whom they dubbed “Mystery Jack”—out of the crowd and onto the stage to scream out the introduction to “Nuclear Fusion”.

All told, KGLW’s three-hour show was as advertised, and then some. The band was wild, the surf-heavy crowd was raucous, and the vibes were high from end to end.

Fans across America will get to experience the band in all of its forms—from an acoustic set in San Diego and a “full experimental rave set” in San Francisco, to another marathon set in Austin—through late November.

Come May and June, King Gizzard will be off to Europe, but U.S. wizards won’t have to wait long to see their beloved band again. The boys have already announced a run of orchestral shows across the country in support of their upcoming release titled “Phantom Island“, as well as a “rock ‘n’ roll camping” event in Buena Vista, CO dubbed Field of Vision next August. And, as Joey noted during KGLW’s latest L.A. show, their orchestral road trip will include a collaboration with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl.

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Kia Forum – Inglewood, CA – 11/1/24 [Full Show]

[Video: EM JAY VEE]

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Kia Forum – Inglewood, CA – 11/1/24 [Video Playlist]

[Video: Todd Norris]

Setlist [via KGLW.net]: King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard | Kia Forum | Inglewood, CA | 11/1/24

Marathon Set 1: Mars For the Rich, Planet B, Hell, Slow Jam 1 -> This Thing -> Am I In Heaven?, Self-Immolate, Dragon, Flamethrower, Straws In The Wind[1] > O.N.E. > Sleep Drifter, Nuclear Fusion, Antarctica -> Boogieman Sam, Field of Vision, Daily Blues > Robot Stop > Big Fig Wasp > Gamma Knife[2] -> Ice V -> The Reticent Raconteur > The Lord of Lightning > The Balrog, Le Risque[3]

Footnotes:
[1] Joey on acoustic microtonal guitar
[2] Unfinished
[3] Jay Weinberg on drums

Show Notes: Slow Jam 1 contained Am I in Heaven? teases. This Thing contained Am I in Heaven? teases and quotes. Am I In Heaven? contained a Slow Jam 1 jam with lyrics. Nuclear Fusion featured community taper, MysteryJack, for the vocal intro. Antarctica contained Hog Calling Contest and Am I in Heaven? teases. Boogieman Sam contained Riff Raff by AC/DC teases. Following Boogieman Sam, Joey mentioned that the band would be performing at the Hollywood Bowl with the L.A. Philharmonic on their upcoming tour in 2025, which was previously unannounced at the time. Daily Blues contained Texas Flood and Pride and Joy by Stevie Ray Vaughan teases prior to the start of the song. Robot Stop contained Hot Water and Master of the Universe by Hawkwind teases and quotes. Gamma Knife was Unfinished. Ice V contained The Lord of Lightning teases. The Lord of Lightning contained Cellophane teases. Le Risque featured Jay Weinberg on Drums and Cavs on Vocals. Additionally, Cavs got an audience member to perform a laugh for the song and had Jay’s wife featured for the ‘Let’s Ride’ vocal part.

Soundcheck: Dragon, Flamethrower
Opening Band(s): King Stingray, DJ Crenshaw