Live Review: King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard, Tropical Fuck Storm

Tropical Fuck Storm played to a packed house at the Enmore dishing up some unique, gritty industrial rock. Metal is grinding on metal and the guitars scream to the high voltage stage presence. Frontman Gareth Liddiard hung off the microphone as he delivered powerful lyrics in songs like Antimatter Animals and Chameleon Paint. This is all glued together by Fiona Kitschin’s throaty bass and the downright eerie synth sounds of Erica Dunn, delivering an overall highly unique performance. 

Bands like King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard don’t come around too often. Having reached an almost mythic status in the Australian music scene and after dropping five huge albums last year, they have cemented a cult following at home and a solid international fan base too. The merch line that snaked its way from the entrance to the stage just after the doors opened is a testament to that. 

Rapturous applause welcomed the seven-headed monster to the stage to open with Rattlesnake. If you could tear your eyes away from the hypnotic visuals stretched from ceiling to floor, the two drummers Eric Moore and Michael Cavanagh face each other, centre stage, and are in constant battle. Through songs like I’m In Your Mind, The Balrog, and the operatic psych-rock journey that is Crumbling Castle, the two percussionists battle it out for supremacy and it’s a treat to watch. 

Crowd favourite The River is a 5/4 blues jam and offered some respite from the onslaught before they melted it into Wah Wah and the mosh got cooking again. 

The band rocked on and the crowd got wilder, which saw one punter swinging from the edge of the mezzanine before dropping into the throng below to get a piece of the action. Ambrose Kenny Smith, earlier on crutches, waddled up to the mic for some outrageous harmonica playing and wailing, bluesy vocals on old fav The Bitter Boogie as the band rounded out the set.

There was no encore, which may have disappointed some, considering the venue, although an hour and a half set of garage/acid-rock goodness was enough to satisfy most.