3 Years for 3 Hours: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard Melt Minds at the Greek Theatre

*DISCLAIMER: While I break down much of the setlist I am aware that I do not touch on every song they played. This is a conscious choice.* 

It had been three years since I bought the tickets in 2019. King Gizz was going to play for three hours. I woke up filled with anticipation, the feeling almost surreal. I couldn’t believe the day had finally arrived. Tonight, on Sunday, October 2nd, I was going to see King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard perform a three hour marathon set at the Greek Theatre. Holy shit.

For a lack of better words, everything about the night was epic. The giant Grecian amphitheater rose out of the Berkeley hills, sold-out and filled with 6,000 fans who had waited three years for the occasion. The six-piece band took the stage and played for three hours, including material from 14 of their albums. As I stood at the top of the theatre near the end of the first set, I had an understanding that I was witnessing something truly legendary, a monumental occasion for a monumental band.  

My friends and I made bets about what they would open with. While we were hoping for the infamous Nonagon Infinity (2016) medley, comprised of “Robot Stop,” “Big Fig Wasp,” “Gamma Knife,” and “People Vultures,” we were far from disappointed when Gizz played the opening notes of “The Dripping Tap,” a 20-minute jam and opening track of their most recent album Omnium Gatherum (2022). 

Omnium Gatherum has quickly become a Gizz classic and they delivered on their selection of tracks from the album. My friends and I reflected that they played every song we wanted from Omnium Gatherum. From the 20-minute jam of “The Dripping Tap” and heavy, proggy, Tool-esque “Gaia,” to the microtonal, psychedelic, 80s rap of “The Grim Reaper” and funky, stoner’s paradise “Ambergris,” nearly every song they played from Omnium Gatherum was a highlight of the night. 

My friends and I arrived early, wanting a good spot in the pit. The whole venue was general admission and because of the three year delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was a widely anticipated event. I had seen King Gizzard once before in 2019 while they were touring their thrash metal album, Infest the Rats’ Nest (2019), and I thought I was prepared for the chaos that would ensue. It couldn’t possibly be worse than the moshing during their metal era right? LOL XD. I was wrong.

As soon as Gizz played their opening notes of the night, my feet left the ground and I was being moved through the crowd uncontrollably. It was definitely overwhelming but I couldn’t control the shit-eating grin plastered to my face. After waiting for three years I was finally seeing my favorite band who was about to play for three hours. You get it, I was hyped af. 

Despite its intensity, I did have some good moments in the pit. After “The Dripping Tap” they teased “The River” before going into “Wah Wah” and “Road Train” from Nonagon Infinity. Then they played the live debut of “Ice V,” a funky 10-minute jam from unreleased Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms, and Lava (2022), which is coming out on Friday (October 7th). The pit was a big dance party and I subjected my partner to public embarrassment with my bizarre moves. After “Ice V,” guitarist Joey Walker joked, “what better place to play white boy funk than UC Berkeley?”. We all laughed; the self-awareness was refreshing coming from a band of six white men. 

The author patiently waiting to Gizz. Photo by Tyler Harding.

However, once the band began playing “Venusian 2” off Infest the Rats’ Nest, I decided my time in the pit was over. I moved farther back and enjoyed watching “The Great Chain of Being,” another metal track from 2017’s Gumboot Soup. Then the band went into their first microtonal section of the evening, rounding out the end of the first set with “Nuclear Fusion” and “Doom City” from Flying Microtonal Banana (2017) and then “O.N.E.” and “Pleura” from L.W. (2021). Before “Pleura,” guitarist Joey Walker fired off another quip: “This song is about Donald Trump, fuck that cunt” (ok, now read that again in a heavy Australian accent). The song infamously contains the lyrics, “Orange baby, always squealing.” 

They closed the first set with a long jam on “Straws In the Wind.” Even though it is one of my least favorite King Gizzard songs, it was still an epic close to the first set, the extended jam adding complexity to the song and proving that no Gizz is bad Gizz. As the band left the stage they promised that “the second set is always better than the first.”

During the 15 minute intermission they played a recording of “Smoke and Mirrors,” a 15 minute song from their album Made In Timeland (2022). On the screen they projected a clock counting down the time. During the break I met up with all of my friends and we headed to the lawn to recount our experiences. We had gotten separated in the chaos of the pit and were happy to spend the second set together, melting on the grass.

The band did not disappoint on their promise, opening the second set with “Self-Immolate” (Infest the Rats’ Nest) and “Gaia” (Omnium Gatherum) and boy was I glad I wasn’t in the pit. Despite the fact that I knew it was borderline violent, it was mesmerizing watching the moshpit swirl underneath me, a psychedelic experience in itself. “Gaia” included an extended drum solo, and just when I thought the opening to the second set couldn’t get any better they played “The Grim Reaper” (Omnium Gatherum). I was stoked. 

Perhaps the most iconic thing about King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard is their ability to genre-bend. While most of the three hours was a chugging grind of wailing guitars, it was punctuated by beautiful moments of repose, including the psychedelic sing along “Sleepwalker” from 2014’s Oddments and another new jam based track “Iron Lung” (Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms, and Lava). 

While many fans consider 2016-2017 to be the golden age of Gizz due to the release of Nonagon Infinity (2016) and the iconic five album run of 2017, I believe we are entering a new golden era: Jam Gizz. With the release of “The Dripping Tap” (Gizz’s longest song) earlier this year and the impending release of Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms, and Lava, King Gizzard is proving they have truly earned a place in the jam band canon. While the Australian sextet tends to draw mostly millennials and zoomers, there are always a handful of diehard jam band fans who are excited to watch the genre taken into a new age. The lasting legacy of The Grateful Dead and cult following of Phish may be tough acts to follow, but King Gizzard remains relatively unfazed. They are slated to release five albums in 2022, not including the EP recorded with Tropical Fuck Storm. 

In the second half of the second set, Gizz brought the opener, Leah Senior, on stage. The audience knew what was coming but that did not curb our satisfaction when Senior spoke the opening lines of “The Reticent Raconteur.” Senior does the narration on King Gizzard’s concept album Murder of the Universe (2017) and as the band seamlessly transitioned into “Lord of Lightning” we knew we were in for a treat. 

At this point of the night, I was in ecstasy. I was seeing my favorite band with my best friends and they had delivered over two hours of my favorite songs; it couldn’t possibly get any better right? Wrong. Gizz made the three year wait worth every second with the close to the second set, finishing out the night with “Crumbling Castle” and “The Fourth Color,” the opening and closing tracks from their 2017 epic Polygondwanaland. The last song of the night was a high-flying jam on “Am I in Heaven?,” the only track they played from I’m In Your Mind Fuzz (2014). 

As I lay with my friends on the lawn we cuddled for warmth, cold and wet from our adventures in the pit. We had waited three years for this night and it was coming to a close. We remarked the next day that it was the end of a chapter: 3 years for 3 hours was over. As I lay in the arms of my best friends I watched my favorite band perform an epic set. The moon rose in the background, the skyline lit up by the campanile and San Francisco gleaming in the distance. I bought the tickets as a freshman at Cal and now in my senior year had finally experienced the event worthy to be called the culmination of my college experience. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t bittersweet; the night had far exceeded our expectations but nonetheless marked the end of an era. I guess it’s not all bad though, they are dropping a new album on Friday. 

Article and Photos by Lily Ramus