King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard transformed from rave set that tore up Electric Brixton into an orchestra that tore up the Royal Albert Hall in an excellent show from one of our finest chameleons. The most prolific, enduring band of our current age show they’re the best at what they do. Pitchfork Festival was here – and was off to a good start.
Few bands have delivered as much as consistently in a short space of time as King Gizzard; who have probably put out four more albums whilst I’ve been writing this review alone. This is the tour for their latest album, the upbeat, dance-y Phantom Island, that they split into three nights: a heavier deep cut jam session of a rave played from their PCs that finished at 3AM for night one and then earlier for night two – but for night three, it was a different beast – enlisting the help of an orchestra to deliver a tour de force of a performance that few bands can rival; giving fans the opportunity to crowd surf at the Royal Albert Hall.
Straight into Phantom Island, the titular track, they’re off and running and it doesn’t take long for the crowd to get energised and a pit to form – not as intense as the first rave set; this is the Royal Albert Hall after all, but these are still very much King Gizzard fans and this is still very much a King Gizzard show. There will be pits, there will be moshing: and everyone is here to have a good time. The Phantom Island 10 song setlist is a run through of the album so if you like the album you’ll like their set; the band stopping midway through for the Orchestra to have a break so they can get a jam session in. It’s a growing album that rewards the listener for staying with it but the opposite is true live – the instant impact of Phantom Island sets the bar high from the off and that’s followed seconds later by Deadstick, that shows 27 albums in, they can still have as much consistency as their first.
The addition of the orchestra throughout adds a jaunty, hypnotic process to proceedings with each musician across the board performing in incredibly tight focus. Deadstick is a belter – “well there was once flew a pilot high and free, danced with the clouds, pirouette with the breeze,” encourages people to boogie and that’s what they’re there for; the seated crowd at the Royal Albert Hall was somewhat depressingly reluctant to get up on their feet but that did not stop the moshers from doing what they do – a riot ensued in the best way possible and security had their hands full. If you think you know what you’re going to get in a King Gizzard show you’re probably wrong – Stu Mackenzie, Cook Craig, Ambrose Kenny-Smith, Joey Walker, Luke Harwood and Michael Cavanagh are able to smooth out their genre-switching into an effortlessly flowing switch-up that pulls one song each from Fishing for Fishes, Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava, Infest the Rats’ Nest, Omnium Gatherum, Petrodragonic Apocalypse; or, dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation, Polygondwanaland, Quarters – dipping into the deep hits. If you’re a fan you’re probably not going to get the album that you want, but that’s okay, because when it’s King Gizzard – the goal is having fun and that’s what the boys are here to do.
Not much interaction between sets due to the short run time – there’s no support; we’re straight in – the band stop to tell the audience that the orchestra are going to leave the set for a bit so they can have their break and jam. They also dedicate Mars for the Rich (Red Mars for the Rich) to an arbitrary fuck Elon Musk statement; a rallying cry on class equality – the poor forgotten whilst the billionaires race for space – brave, bold and ferocious in their rallying cry for a free Palestine, just as important even with the false ceasefire which Israel have broken. Mars for the Rich goes down a storm and the crowd are singing along – the Australians very much in their element here. The Covent Garden Sinfonia, conducted by Chad Kelly add much to this – the organised chaos in motion dictating that their set is more planned than most of the free-spirited nature that usually follows the jamming of King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, but they find a way to get on their wavelength and perform with one of the best experiences I’ve had all year. Gone is the madness of the more disorganised; spontaneous nature of their set – instead, organised chaos are the watchwords of today.
The River, Crumbling Castle, This Thing, Dragon and Iron Lung all get rollouts in set 2 – the 15 minute jam interval is the closet thing to a normal King Gizzard set that you’ll get all evening. But this is a once in a lifetime experience; a true wildcard of a show from the mavericks – capable of reinventing themselves whilst staying true to their idea as a band. The double header of the orchestra and the rave nights allowed for a week few bands can rival or even attempt to have the variety to put together; and rest assured, next time they’re back, in whatever form, I’ll be there too. Long live Phantom Island.
Learn more about King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard at the Pitchfork Music Festival Site.
Photo courtesy of Sam Huddleston.
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