King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard + Hollywood Bowl Orchestra @ Hollywood Bowl (Concert Review by Zachary B.)

After experiencing 2 prior King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard performances here in Michigan, I thought I knew what to expect coming into this show: Jammy tunes, disorganized production setup, nigh incomprehensive band chatter, and a setlist consisting of none of my favorites (boo hoo for me!). Needless to say, I was expecting an ‘alright’ concert, already accepting the fact that Live Gizzard wasn’t exactly for me.

But hey! I gotta say, it’s lovely to be wrong!
For those discovering this absurdly titled band for the first time here, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard is an Australian psychedelic rock outfit concerned only with releasing as many studio albums as humanly possible, while still touring around the world til’ the gators come home. The band, consisting of Stu Mackenzie, Cook Craig, Ambrose Kenny-Smith, Joey Walker, Luke Harwood, and Michael Cavanagh, regularly glide between genres and styles with every new project. The easy polar opposites to point to being Paper Mache Dream Balloon (a fully acoustic chillaxing album to mop floors to) and Infest the Rats’ Nest (a heavy metal rock opera about the environmental collapse of Earth and the fleeing of the privileged to Mars). But regardless of the type of sound they go for, you will usually be able to identify the band through regularly placed “WOOOOO!”s shouted by Stu Mackenzie getting obscenely personal with his microphone.

In contrast to prior performances at the Masonic Temple Theater in 2022 and the Aretha Franklin Amphitheatre in 2024, this leg of their Phantom Island Tour was joined by a full orchestra (Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, conducted by Sarah Hicks). It is of my belief that the orchestra (and the namesake of the tour) forced the band to adopt a different approach than their usual inclinations, which typically consist of longer jammy renditions of scattershot rock-heavy pulls from their massive catalogue. Starting a show already at 100 certainly has its benefits for those ready to lulled into a psych rock dream, but opening with a full run through of their latest introspective record entitled Phantom Island, allowed for a gradual build that made the later jams taste all the more cathartic.

“The first KGLW show with Good Pacing….” aside, there was a lot on offer here! From the almost celebratory calls for help of Deadstick, to the twing-twangy reflections of Aerodynamic, you’re chucked into an ethereal stream of contemplation (as any good band does). This first half consisting of the entirety of Phantom Island is also neatly bookended by the announcement that the front row crowd all had food poisoning, followed by Joey yoinking some half-eaten Tiramisu from the front row dining patrons, and Ambrose snacking on a yellow comically labeled “POPCORN” popcorn tub. It is to my great satisfaction that all of these band shenanigans were, for the first time, fully audible to my ears (and of course, the crowd didn’t actually have food poisoning). 

This led into the second half of the show, starting off with a slow jam that gradually picked up speed before bursting into one of their electric classics, Open Water. From there, the band jammed through a selection of hits across their catalog (The River, Crumbling Castle, Dragon), capitalizing on all the potential energy stored up by their earlier restraint in song length. The addition of the orchestra in The River added a jaunty bounciness to the track I didn’t know I needed, and I was simply glad to hear This Thing (one of my favorites off of Fishing for Fishies) performed live for the first time! This second half also included an altered rendition of Mars for the Rich, aptly dedicated to proud Destroyer-Of-Worlds Elon Musk and the freedom of the Palestinian people. And to close out the show, the band delivered a lamentful but energetic performance of one of their more recent and powerful tracks Iron Lung off of Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava (which is part of a complete breakfast!).

In conclusion: What a lovely show! I’m unsure I could recommend any upcoming shows in Michigan, as they seem to be cursed (at least in my case) by a particularly cruel Lizard Wizard. But hey! Whose to say a cursed Gizzard can’t shred?

Setlist:

1. Phantom Island
2. Deadstick
3. Lonely Cosmos
4. Eternal Return
5. Panspych
6. Spacesick
7. Aerodynamic
8. Sea of Doubt
9. Silent Spirit
10. Grow Wings and Fly
11. Open Water
12. The River
13. Crumbling Castle
14. This Thing
15. Mars For the Rich
16. Dragon
17. Iron Lung