King Gizzard & The Lizard WizardPunters fiercely guard spots, especially front-of-step posis, as King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard set up on stage. Frontman Stu Mackenzie points out his band has never performed at this venue before. Visuals evoke test patterns and TV static and spill across the band before hitting the full expanse of the stage's back wall. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard members look amorphous under this lighting design.
The Lord Of Lightning rouses the mosh and this band are dynamically diverse, providing multi-layered paralysing perfection for our ears; those not crowd-surfing and troubling the front section stand gawking at the wondrous spectacle of it all. Cellophane, Rattlesnake - all our favourites are included in tonight's setlist. We learn from a neighbour in the crowd about the Rattlesnake-inspired drinking game of her own invention, during which participants must try to scull a shot every time "rattlesnake" is sung. Dual drummers Eric Moore and Michael Cavanagh face each other and double the demolition. Ambrose Kenny-Smith supplies vibraslap flourishes with aplomb.
A punter actually whispers in our ear, "Do you know anyone selling caps by any chance?" - so polite! Riff melodies echo and harmonise, winding around each other like warring pythons and sometimes sounding like sitar. Kenny-Smith's harmonica often perfectly shadows the vocal melody as he looks across at Mackenzie to keep perfectly in sync. On Billabong Valley, Kenny-Smith takes lead vocals for yet another dynamic shift as we learn about Mad Dog Morgan ("Shot in the back by morning").
This band is so road fit that we can't even bust them exchanging glances as cues; these songs are so ingrained in their brains that they could probably play them flawlessly in their sleep. Hang on, is that Arj Barker we spy in the crowd? King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard even tackle a sea shanty, turning it into the most forward-thinking kind of music.
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These band members don't particularly rev-up, or even face, the crowd throughout their set, but their level of musical wizardry is astonishing and watching them recreate these sounds live is riveting beyond belief. "Nonagon infinity opens the door..." - those curly riffs completely destroy us and then Kenny-Smith's harmonica raises the roof. It's limbs akimbo in the moshpit and the resulting action calls to mind muppets in a wind tunnel. Gamma Knife somehow slices through the mix and then just when we thought this band couldn't possibly be any cooler, we're not granted an encore.
There are so many of them up there (seven band members, to be precise) and so much is going on - especially time signature-wise - but it's never too much. We can't get enough. Every single time we see King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard live, we leave thinking they couldn't possibly get any better. And then with each repeat dose, they prove us wrong.
