KING GIZZARD & THE LIZARD WIZARD – LIVE @ REMLINGER FARMS
Eric Rauert continues his King Gizzard saga with their three day stand at Remlinger Farms in Washington State. This fourth installment concludes Eric’s amazing adventure. AMP is proud of his brilliant observations and dedicated homage to KGLW.
By Eric Rauert
Night 1
Forming the traditional King Gizzard powder keg, metal songs “Mars for the Rich”, “Organ Farmer”, and “Supercell” opened the first night with a bang. “Organ Farmer” was a little short but “Supercell” continues to deliver, officially released that day along with the rest of the songs from PetroDragonic Apocalypse.
The “Mind Fuzz Suite” was back once again and King Gizzard continues to add improvisation to this collection of four songs to keep it fresh. Several people have asked me “Why would you see the same band so much?” and catching live re-creations of old classics is near the top of that list. An electric “Sense” with plenty more teases and covers continued the jam session. I much prefer this album, Paper Mache Dream Balloon, acoustic but “Sense” makes for a great jam base with the amps plugged in.
“Grim Reaper” was back once again, only skipped this tour in Chicago. Homage was paid to their supposed influence, the Beastie Boys, with “Intergalactic” quotes throughout the song. We may never get a full King Gizzard rap/hip-hop album but at least for now, “Grim Reaper” scratches the itch. Wanting to keep the momentum from the last show Chicago show, “Change” graced our ears once again. This song will be played fairly vanilla until they incorporate it more live but it was just as emotionally moving as the world debut from Chicago.
After the usual soft synths and “lets get real high” electronic hit “Shanghai”, funk rock “Ambergris” this time was introduced as a “song about Free Willy”. Bringing the funk I was expecting, Joey Walker’s (Vocals, Guitar, Microtonal Guitar, Synth) soft tones complemented the electronic key playing of Ambrose Kenny-Smith’s (Vocals, Harmonica, Keyboard, Sax, Percussion) and Nicolas “Cookie” Craig’s (Guitar, Keyboard, Synth, Vocals) “G-funk” style support.
“Hot Water” was once again a hit with Stu McKenzie (Vocals, Guitar, Flute Microtonal Guitar, Synth, Keys) on the flute. Lyrics halfway through changed from repetition of “Hot Water” to “Joey Walker”, honoring the co-creator of the song in the classic tongue and cheek King Gizzard style.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, King Gizzard has multiple albums that tell a sci-fi fantasy story within their songs. “Altered Beast I” -> “Alter Me I” -> “Altered Beast II”, tells a horrific story of a man changing into an “Altered Beast”, complete with narrative breaks. This is Gizz at its weirdest. It’s also their most technical material and a strong rock saga resides underneath the horrifying tale.
Shifting into “Robot Stop” should have meant relentless energy all the way to the end of the show but this rendition gave us a little breathing room. After a quick tour of the stage by Kenny-Smith with a tequila bottle and a slower tease of “Witchcraft”’s main riffs halted the pace before catapulting back into the refrain of “Robot Stop” for the finale. This was one of the most creative “Robot Stop” jams I’ve heard to date, bringing an interesting variance to a classic hit.
The weather did little to keep this show from being a set to remember. An explosive metal start gave way to extended funk and jams, only to be sandwiched by an even more explosive finish in “Robot Stop”. No microtonal songs and lack of an extended heavy offering was no problem for me, with “Sense”, “Change”, and “Hot Water” as easy highlights of a funky focused set.
Night 2
The second evening started off with a reprieve from the rain and the first microtonal music of the Seattle residency. “Static Electricity” had its tour debut and I would love to hear this more often. This haunting song keeps things interesting with verses that do in fact crackle with static.
Next, Gaspard, the band’s sound tech, was wrenched from backstage to do the throat singing intro to “Nuclear Fusion”. Sorry bud, you’ve got to work on your length and sustaining that vibrato. Still, he did it in French, so that was cool. No break in the music saw the transition into “Honey”. Kenny-Smith’s harmonica was the highlight of this love song, with the sweetest guitar and bass licks a King Gizzard microtonal song can provide.
Then it was time to yell, with live favorite “Gila Monster” back on the menu to start a quick flurry of metal songs. “Witchcraft” impressed as always, with McKenzie’s haunting punctuation of the title at the end of every verse and King Gizzard’s return to two drummers with Kenny-Smith on crash cymbal.
“Self-Immolate” continues as the chosen drum solo song and, even though I had seen it before, it can’t be overstated how impressive it is watching Michael Cavanaugh play. Maybe I just have a soft spot for sweaty drummers but the crowd formed a circle pit to encourage Cavanaugh on, exploding into chaos at the conclusion of his solo and the true intro of “Self-Immolate”.
I was happy to catch prog-rock combo “Crumbling Castle” -> “The Fourth Color” for the first time live, as it’s probably my favorite transition in all of music. The duo is played seamlessly together but splits the narrative thread of polyrhythmic album Polygondwanaland in exchange for some of the most mind melting psychedelia breakdowns the band has to offer. The creeping buildup and release of “Crumbling Castle” into the drum roll of “The Fourth Color” was transcendent and are the only songs I would make mandatory at every King Gizzard show.
Transitioning genres but keeping a similar pace, blues rock favorite “This Thing” turned out to be one of the few tracks played at every stop. The mosh pit changed to a dance pit as Kenny-Smith wailed on harmonica, only to give way to the expected Walker guitar solo (although I’m still wishing for more length here).
“Astroturf” continued to get its live reps in. The confidence and animation of the band had improved substantially since the debut at The Caverns, with McKenzie leaning into his usual vocal improvisations and strong flute solo. Cavs also plays expertly on this track, seeming to restrain himself from a second drum solo.
Walker had another chance at the spotlight during “Work This Time”, keeping his streak alive of soulful lyrics accompanied by a guitar that speaks for itself. A higher authority seemed to shed tears of approval as rain returned to the farm in the middle of Walker’s solo, finally giving me some of that sweet shredding I so desperately desired. The conclusion of a quick “Garden Goblin” from Nicolas “Cookie” Craig brought us to one last song to end the show. And what a finale.
“Dripping Tap” joined the other handful of songs played at every Residency location but this rendition was one for the history books at just over 30 minutes. During an extended intro that seemed to channel AC/DC and Tool simultaneously, Kenny-Smith left the stage, walking into the crowd before anyone could rouse from their jam trance. An inflatable raft and intrepid crowd member floated above the mosh pit as Kenny-Smith led the crowd through his vocal intro.
I always think I’m going to get sick of this song but the energy “The Dripping Tap” has as a closer is unbelievable. There are those who might say that taking 30 minutes for a song can exclude others and jamming can be “noodly” but the six piece balances these issues well. Pace stayed varied throughout the song, with features of four other Gizzard songs throughout for a killer jam medley. Any pace lost from stagnation during improv was regained simply by turning “The Dripping Tap” back on.
This show polarized me more than any of the others. Oddly the first half of this show was near the bottom of my Residency picks, while the second half is at the top. A microtonal and metal section with limited personal highlights was recovered by some of my favorite 2023 performances from the group. “Crumbling Castle” -> “Fourth Color” and a legendary “The Dripping Tap” were highlights to remember not only from Seattle but the whole tour.
Night 3
The rain was once again steady and miserable leading into the final night. I snuck up as far as I could to experience this show from the middle of the crowd and was rewarded with a quick set of older microtonal songs straight out of the gate. “Doom City” kicked off the party and McKenzie has been adding reverb to his vocals that really adds to the apocalyptic tone of the song. “All is Known” followed, ending satisfactorily with the deep and heavy “wah, wah, wah” on vocals and the wah pedal as well.
“Anoxia” had a bit of a breakout appearance. Not seen since 2022 (long for King Gizzard), this slower song heavily features Walker’s vocals and there are some really cool riffs that showcase their microtonal music well.
Stopping only to wish everyone a happy Father’s Day (thanks for reading all of these Dad), Kenny-Smith was once again relentless on vocals on “Straws in the Wind”. This rainy evening featured a sneak peek of some new and unknown lyrics. If you need a preview of the next six months of King Gizzard’s release schedule, all you have to do is attend a live show.
Once again “K.G.L.W. (Outro’s)” sludgy metal riffs left me with one lingering question: when will we hear the intro? The microtonal guitars were abandoned after the outro song but the metal stayed front and center. “Converge” and “Hell” composed the short but intense metal section and I couldn’t help but get swept up in the large mosh that ignited center stage.
Graciously, the pace slowed immediately as I extracted myself from the pit. Sweet and sultry, “Her and I (Slow Jam 2)” mostly stayed within its own riffs for the jams but some “Magenta Mountain” nudges filtered through this special edition making it feel funkier than usual. The “Evil Death Roll” jam session from Chicago returned, teasing tour favorite “Witchcraft” and featuring similar extended jamming.
“Invisible Face” channeled a jazzier energy but kept the usual jolty vocals from McKenzie. I think the jams here could have brought a little more oomph but “Wah-Wah” quickly brought it around. McKenzie produces some of his vocals on this song by basically swallowing the mic. The song benefits from this lo-fi, natural mouth echo while the rest of the band fills in with sweeping backing tracks that transitioned seamlessly into twin song “The River”.
Some of the mosh pit sat down simultaneously, squelching into the mud to hop on their river boats. A tradition started on tours years ago, fake rowing on “The River” in time to Cavanaugh’s drum beat is just one of the many collective memes of attending a Gizzard concert. Whether from the soggy pants or the increase in tempo the crowd was back on their feet quickly, with the sextet rocketing back into “Wah-Wah” in short order. What they continue to do with these transitions impresses me and the crowd swayed their outstretched hands in time while the transition gave way to a folksy jam. And almost imperceptibly, we were back on “The River”, with no rowing this time.
And with many thanks to the crowd but little fanfare, it was time for the final song of the Residency Tour. Psych-rock hall of famer “Float Along – Fill Your Lungs” is a great closer to any show and this was no exception. Dreamy vocals and riffs build in intensity to stoner-rock breakdowns from Walker and McKenzie while sweeping synth frequencies from Kenny-Smith and Craig lay down the psychedelia. I felt the outro vocal chorus felt a little anticlimactic to end the show but was more than made up for by the improv jams of this instant classic.
The boys had one more 3 hour marathon show at a sold out Hollywood Bowl to complete their visit but my journey had come to an end. Clearly King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard had come prepared to appease their rabid American fanbase and nearly every performance felt both unique and creative. Even with the several repeats from show to show, every song brought something for new and hardcore fans alike.
King Gizzard knows many of their fans travel to see them at multiple locations and while the Residency Tour concept isn’t new, it was my first time. The connectivity extended events like this bring are truly something to be experienced. Even if you only can catch this band at a single show, I cant recommend it more. I don’t know what kind of music they’ll be playing in even 3 months but what I can guarantee is that you won’t leave disappointed. And who knows: maybe you’ll find a new musical obsession like me.
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