King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard | Howler
Aptly dubbed the best live band of 2014, it is no wonder that King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard are becoming one of the most prominent acts of our generation. Dripping with a distinct psychedelic essence, it’s hard not to feel as though you’re on an acid trip of music wonder every time you see these guys perform live.
Granted there are more than a handful of them in the band, you’d think sharing the live setting would cause some sort of ruckus – and it does, but in the best of senses. I’ve seen King Giz perform a handful of times, and time and time again, I see myself noticing a common motif. Smaller venues, rustic settings, northside performances. In essence, they hit the nail on the head. They know what their crowd is about and they work their magic accordingly. That being said, however, I feel that this setting at Howler may possibly rise to the top of my experiences with the band. Howler was the perfect performance space for them. Actually, it’s really the perfect performance space full stop. Where it was larger than a lot of their other past chosen performance venues, it was still small enough to be considered intimate.
On this night, it was hard to go passed the crowd. It felt as though everyone was in their element; everyone came to join in on that ruckus that they knew the band would cause. Every song that was performed was on point, meshing into one another – creating this aforementioned psychedelic wave of bliss. I don’t know what else to say besides the fact that they were perfect in their own way – as per usual. Who would’ve thought that head-banging and crowd-surfacing to a flute solo would be a thing in 2014?
Despite their killer setlist, I would be lying if I didn’t say that Cellophane rose to the top of the spectrum that night. That was easily the highlight for, well, pretty much everyone – that is if the crowd reaction was anything to go by. Interjecting to communicate with the audience only slightly throughout their set, King Gizzard knew that they were there to serve a particular purpose, and they came through above and beyond. Consistently touring and selling out venues both locally and internationally, it is no wonder why people know who King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard are and love what they do. You were faultless, boys. As per usual.
