Review: King Gizzard in Seattle

 
 
 

THREE GUITARS, BASS, A KEYBOARD, AND A DRUM KIT - is all it takes for King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard to make a sound larger than any band could with six instruments. Coming to The Paramount in Seattle early on in their world tour, the band began their performance with ’Pleura’. Instantly, the frozen crowd came to life with excitement, everyone jumping and dancing to the song. Looking at the audience and seeing them grab on to the catchy guitar and bass driven riff, it became apparent how much of a dedicated fan everyone was.

Following up their opener with ‘Sleep Drifter’ and ‘Minimum Brainsize’, King Gizzard really shows off their musical skills with seamless transitions between some of their songs. And if hearing their talent isn’t enough, you can visibly see it with Stu Mackenzie and Joey Walker both playing microtonal guitars, all while the both of them switch off singing throughout some songs. And if that wasn’t enough, some of the band would switch instruments mid songs, going from the piano on the side of the stage to picking up a guitar and heading towards front and center.

Before the show had started, I was talking to some of the fans leaning up against the barricade up front. Many of them told me I was in for the show of a lifetime, and I couldn’t have agreed more. With their remaining minutes, they close the night out with ‘Magma’, a song off their newest album. The recorded version of this song rings in at just over nine minutes long, but I couldn’t tell you if the live rendition of it was shorter or longer than that. It could have been two minutes or fifteen, but it didn’t matter because the song, and the show, was over before I knew it. Most of the time I hear that it’s either quality or quantity, but King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard deliver both. With dozens of unique songs under their belt, with reportedly many more to come, they are a band with a reputation to deliver and not to be passed on.

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