This Fall has been the Fall of ultra-hyped and seriously buzzed about shows at Red Rocks. As the outdoor concert season pushes deeper into the colder months of the year, the shows seem to get hotter. We were on hand for The War on Drugs a few weeks back (read about it here) and now the thrice postponed King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard shows finally got to take place. People had been waiting years for these shows and it showed in lines to get in, the energy in the air, and the rabid enthusiasm from the crowd all night long.
“Were you here last night?” As I ran into one seasoned Denver concert-going friend after another, this the first question from just about every single person. While I had to answer “no,” many of them had been on The Rocks for the Monday show and were back with every bit as much excitement as they had the previous evening . . . maybe more. These shows were billed as a “Marathon Set that will feature music from the extensive 15-album back catalog” and promised three full hours of music – and they delivered.
Opener Leah Senior warmed up the crowd with a mellow set of Folk inspired music backed by her “little Folk band from Australia.” While songs like “Time Traveler,” “With or Without Me,” and “Ocean Quilt Lady” were performed well, the vibe didn’t quite fit with what KGTLW is known for. She was incredibly thankful to the evening’s headliners for inviting her to join them at Red Rocks and when she left the stage, I wasn’t expecting to see any more of her for the rest of the evening, but more on that later.
The buzz continued to build as the crew changed over the stage and fans made their way through the rows with freshly purchased copies of the band’s “Laminated Denim” LP that had been released that very day – and yes, it was in fact in a denim sleeve.
At 8:15 the lights went down the venue exploded. The energy that poured from the 10,000 fans was nothing short of amazing and reinforced just exactly how big this band has become over the past couple of years. In my mind, they are right up there with Billy Strings and Goose as bands that have exploded in popularity during the COVID era.
The evening’s first offering came from the group’s April release Omnium Gatherum in the form of “The Dripping Tap.” (Listen Here!) The song’s thundering drums, infectious riffs, and screaming feedback whipped the crowd into a frenzy and set the stage for a monster night of music. The song also served as a birthday celebration for Joey Walker with his partner arriving on stage with a cake and his child for a tender moment as Joey held the little one at the microphone to take in the wall of humanity that is Red Rocks.
Having only seen one festival set from KGTLW before my Red Rocks experience, I was struck not only by the power of their live show, but also by the incredible range their material spans. The first set featured the edgy thrash-metal of “Organ Farmer,” the Prog-Psych of “Oddlife,” and the garage Blues of “Bitter Boogie” that evolved into some pretty mind-bending Jazzy weirdness. It was captivating – and admittedly a bit exhausting – to witness a band with such an incredible handle on so many different genres.
After more than 90 minutes, the sextet took a 15 minute break but, rather than filling the air with setbreak playlist of feel good rockers, they chose to debut “Hypertension” – the B side of Laminated Demin – as a clock ticked away the minutes. Apparently the song, and the previous night’s intermission track “The Land Before Timeland,” were written specifically for the Red Rocks shows. Ballsy!
The second set started strong with “Perihelion” as the band took us right back into the metalverse before serving up a four song segment of their 2014 album I’m In Your Mind Fuzz. The song cycle included “I’m In Your Mind,” “I’m Not In Your Mind,” “Cellophane,” and the title track.
After “Tezeta” took us on a brief trip into a very psychedelic Yacht Rock space, Leah Senior reemerged to reprise her theatrical narrations on most of Chapter 1 of Murder of The Universe: The Tale of the Altered Beast. (Listen Here!)
For me, the run from “Muddy Water” into “Iron Lung” and then “Robot Stop” was a highlight of a truly remarkable set of music. The group showcased their bluesy influences as the wove in Middle-Eastern melodies to create a sound that was unmistakably “King Gizzard” as the crowd pogo’d and thrashed.
True to their word, over the course of three hours, the band played songs from no less than 15 albums dating all the way back to their 2012 debut 12 Bar Bruise with well over half the material having been released before the pandemic. It was truly an incredible show and one that cemented this band’s place on the Red Rocks schedule for years to come I would imagine.
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