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Watch King Gizzard's Stu Mackenzie Play A DJ Set At Melbourne Café

Mary Varvaris

Mackenzie performed a solo synthesiser performance at the Melbourne café-meets-retail store.

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard's Stu Mackenzie
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard's Stu Mackenzie(Credit: Kate Arnott)
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In the most Melbourne sentence ever, a café in the suburb of Thornbury has welcomed King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard’s Stu Mackenzie for a DJ set on his synthesiser.

The Melbourne café and creative hub for vinyl, art, photography books, locally made fashion and ceramics, Candy, announced that Mackenzie would perform inside the space last Thursday (28 May), “and some Thursdays to come.”

In video footage captured by fans, Mackenzie performed a solo synthesiser performance at the café-meets-retail store. Punters watched on with coffee cups in hand, bopping along to the dance-inspired music. Whether you’re up for a day or nighttime rave, the King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard frontman has got you covered.

Check out footage and the two-hour bootleg, free for anyone to listen to, below.

Back in December, King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard took over venues along the East Coast with rock and orchestral shows. Along with the tour, the band performed a free show at Federation Square in Melbourne, turning the CBD into the ultimate rave location.

Mackenzie teased upon announcing the show in October, “Come on down. Freak out with us. You ain’t never seen this many patch cables in your life.”

The free, all-ages event marked the debut of King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard’s rave shows in Australia, and their first show on home soil in over two years.

In October 2023, the band released their 25th album, The Silver Cord, which marked a shift in their sound, with a greater focus on synthesiser-based music. But that wasn’t the end of their electronic-focused explorations.

Ahead of the release of King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard’s 27th album, the orchestral-focused Phantom Island, which landed last June, Mackenzie hinted that their follow-up album would be synth-focused and that an electronic album is “probably the next thing.”

We’re quickly approaching a year between records for the prolific Australian band. During that rare period of time off, drummer Michael Cavanagh made an album on his own. You can find out more about the CAVS project in a recent The Music interview.