It was Drag Night in rural Tennessee, and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard took the occasion seriously on a day that a controversial Tennessee anti-drag law was struck down in federal court.
Guitarist Joey Walker also wondered out loud about the whereabouts of Billy Strings, the gifted jamgrass picker who lives in Nashville, as he mentioned that Sunday’s Caverns finale would be “acoustic” themed.
Strings was performing in Austin Saturday night but has no other shows booked until Wednesday in Tulsa, Okla.
So, there.
But, back to the drag theme.
In theory, it would have been illegal for the Aussies to dress the way they did in public the night before.
It was the third of their four appearances at The Caverns, and first of two at the venues’ above-ground outdoor amphitheater. This venue could house, with its expansive lawn, about four or five times as many people as the intimate cave stage the band played the first two nights.
They came out swinging and dressed to kill, opening with “Rattlesnake” off 2017’s Flying Microtonal Banana.
Stu Mackenzie was pretty in a pink.
Ambrose Kenny-Smith might have taken the assignment the most seriously and was dashing in several outfits he changed into during the course of the show.
“Thanks for coming to watch us Southern belles,” said guitarist Joey Walker, dressed in a red blouse and wearing a wide brim straw hat style popular in women’s fashion, after the band played “Rattlesnake.”
King Gizz also continued the trend of debuting new material, as they have done every night of the tour.
“Witchcraft,” off their forthcoming LP, PetroDragonic Apocalypse, was unveiled in this show.
That came after a strong start to the set following the opener, with a notable “Straws in the Wind,” that saw Kenny-Smith shine like a crazy diamond as he took the spotlight dressed as a woman.
Straws started with some bluesy microtonal guitar playing by Mackenzie.
“Cooking something raw,
Cooking something big”
- Ambrose on “Straws in the Wind”
That’s what the band has been doing all weekend.
“Is it all, is it all, straws in the wind,” - Ambrose
The band played a pretty straightforward “Gaia,” that thrashy number off 2022’s Omnium Gatherum.
It included a quote of “Motor Spirit,” according to KGLW.net, which curates the band’s setlists. That song is the opening track on their album due out June 16. Check out their full, notated setlist here.
Then “Witchcraft,” came out.
It’s the type of heavy banger that the metal side of the Weirdo Swarm eat up. Mackenzie was on his Gibson Holy Explorer while Walker had has Flying V guitar for the song.
It has some gothic almost royal English undertones because of the vocal delivery by Mackenzie.
“Self-Immolate,” the first of two in a row from Infest the Rats’ Nest, started out with a lengthy drum solo from Michael Cavanagh. Then it was “Perihelion.”
“Boogieman Sam,” from Fishing for Fishies was first dedicated to a fan in attendance who was celebrating his birthday, and it was jammed out pretty deep, and included, according to KGLW.net, quotes from Canned Heat’s “Going Up the Country,” Little Walter’s “My Babe,” and Ann Cole’s “Got My Mojo Working.”
Then two songs from last year’s Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava that seemed shoe-ins for the underground shows were played, “Magma,” and “Lava.”
“Magma,” composed as a pretty jammy song to begin with was played with gusto here.
“Head On/Pill” closed it out, pleasing a great deal of fans with this classic off their 2013 LP Float Along – Fill Your Lungs.
Editor’s note: An update to this story is upcoming, with hopefully video footage of forthcoming.