Jam in the Stream

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard announced the bulk of its touring plans for 2024, with shows in Europe, four festival appearances in South America and two legs of touring in North America. Most of those shows are in the U.S., though there are a few dates in Canada. They also plan on playing three acoustic shows in the U.K., Detroit and San Diego. This is an addition to the previously announced marathon 3-hour shows in Hamburg, Germany, Forest Hills Stadium in New York, Chicago, Washington’s Gorge, and Austin, Texas.

A lot happened while Jam in the Stream’s editor was away, off the grid, for a month. Here’s a wrap-up of the biggest news regarding Phish and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard during that time.

King Gizzard’s tour finale at Hollywood Bowl Wednesday was one part tribute and one part victory lap, a three-hour exclamation point on an incredible tour that never let off the gas, rain or shine, for 15 shows.

Especially the last.

The show started off with a four-song tribute to Broderick Smith, who initially was to perform (likely those same) songs from the 2013 Eyes Like The Sky LP, the band’s second album.

Smith wrote and narrated the album, which is something like a Spaghetti Western audio book.

Smith is the father of the band’s entertainer/vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Ambrose Kenny-Smith. Smith profoundly influenced both Kenny-Smith and the band itself, and it is plain to see. Smith was a British-born Australian entertainer, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who fronted several Australian rock bands such as Sundown, Carson, and the Dingoes.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard saved something special for their last of three shows at Remlinger Farms in Carnation, Wash.

Despite having one show left in their tour – a marathon set at Hollywood Bowl Wednesday – this was the last show on the “residency” portion of their tour, where they played multiple nights at four locations.

This last show contained several songs that hadn’t been played this tour, including saving one of their most beloved songs to close out the show.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard played “Static Electricity,” and “Work This Time,” in their second of three shows at Remlinger Farms outside of Seattle on Saturday. The band has two more shows left in their U.S. Residency Tour, with one more show at Remlinger Farms tonight, and a marathon set at Hollywood Bowl on Wednesday.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard’s Stu Mackenzie and Joey Walker came out dressed in fishing bibs as they took to another rainy stage at Remlinger Farms in Carnation, Wash. They were opening a three-night run, the last extended residency stop, on their 15-show U.S. Residency Tour, which concludes Wednesday with a marathon show at Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard played “Change” for the first time during the final of three shows at Chicago’s Salt Shed. It was somewhat of a reward for fans who had been soaked by rains for hours to see the band at the venue’s outdoor stage setup.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard returned to Chicago on a cold and windy night. Even as they played a venue that blocked the view of their backdrop, they won over new fans with a show that highlighted their heavy mode as well as improvisational talent.

King Gizzard played for the first or second time, “Satan Speeds Up,” a psychedelic classic the band put out back in 2014 at their day-time show at Red Rocks in Colorado Thursday. Read more about the show in this writeup.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard played to the Colorado crowd in their first of three shows at Red Rocks Wednesday night. They debuted two songs, “Motor Spirit,” and “Hate Dancin’.” The band has two more shows there Thursday, June 8.

King Gizzard’s final of four shows at The Caverns in Tennessee was a special one.

Not just because it was one of their rare acoustic performances.

There were so many things worth noting about this one, from some deep jams to a dedication.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard celebrated Pride Month in rural Tennessee by dressing in drag at their third show in a row at The Caverns Saturday.

The band debuted “Witchcraft,” the fourth song they have live-debuted in as many shows on this U.S. Residency Tour. The song is off the forthcoming LP, PetroDragonic Apocalypse, which is due out June 16.

And guitarist Joey Walker, looking ahead to tonight’s acoustic theme, wondered out loud about the whereabouts of the Nashville-based guitar virtuoso Billy Strings.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard gave fans the live debut of “Astroturf,” at the second of two shows in the underground amphitheater at The Caverns in Pelham, Tenn., June 2. It was the first time the band played live anything off their last album, Changes, released last October. That was one highlight in a show full of highlights, with inspired jamming and great song selection including four songs from the 2014 album I’m In Your Mind Fuzz to start the show and “K.G.L.W” to close it out loud.

Jam in the Stream’s show story for Night 1 at The Caverns June 1, 2023. This writeup is a working document, with updates forthcoming.

If you like chill psychedelic music but don’t already know about Mcbaise, you should probably read this. Heck, if you do know about him, you will want to read this lengthy piece based on an interview conducted at a London pub with the musician and illustrator behind the project, McBess. It was a wide-ranging interview that touched a lot on what inspires the artist. He also opines about King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, if you read deep enough. Mcbaise is one of the biggest musical geniuses that nobody has ever heard of. Now you know.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard don’t appear to be short on creativity at the moment. Ahead of their U.S. residency tour, which kicks off in Boston May 28, the band just released a music video for “Gila Moster” and is planning to drop their 24th studio album on June 16.

King Gizz fans will be better able to understand and track the band’s setlists thanks to improvements made to kglw.net, the King Gizz fan site that was launched late last year. The site is now using Songfish, a software service was developed out of efforts to do the same thing at Phish.net.

Jam in the Stream weighs in not on the Goose show itself, per say, that rolled through Minnesota Sunday but the polarizing aspect that three up-and-coming bands have sparked the past few years. It’s OK to like, or not like, any or all of them. But it would be better if we all just remembered to be kind to one another.

Phish fans in Los Angeles early for the Hollywood Bowl run – and anyone into psychedelic rock – should head over to the El Rey Theatre on April 20 to catch Los Bitchos. The London-based quartet opened for King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard on their tour of Europe last month and won over many new fans.

Serra Petale of Los Bitchos gave an interview to Jam in the Stream before opening up for King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard at the Sentrum Scene in Oslo, Norway March 8. Petale, a long-time fan of King Gizz, talked about the experience opening up for the Australian psych rock band, her own band’s roots in cumbia and how Los Bitchos wound up having an all-female core.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard sensed the Prague crowd wanted it hot and heavy and they delivered a banger of a show, easing up with some funk, blues and soul late in the two-hour set. The three levels of the Lucerna Velky Sal, a theater used for high school prom and ballroom dancing competitions, were piping hot; a blast of hot air billowed out of the venue’s front door for at least 45 minutes after the show.

Though he’s covered the outdoors for many of the last 22 years, the writer hasn’t had a column touching on the topic since 2004. With the launch of this blog in February, the option to write such a piece, however irregularly, opened back up. Here is the first such effort, though, warning, it rambles on and hits on a number of related topics including the northern lights, Lake of the Woods, and John Hartford covering John McLaughlin.

Seamus Patrick Kobayashi O’Connor has been attempting to attend and live stream every show on King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard’s 17-show tour through Europe and the U.K.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard took their 17-show tour of Europe to Oslo, Norway's Sentrum Scene, the perfect backdrop for the incredible visual element to their live shows. It turned out to be Jam in the Stream’s favorite show of the first five attended, though one show remains tonight in Prague.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard heated up a repurposed brewery on a cold, winter night in Stockholm, Sweden.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard hit its stride three shows into their March tour of Europe and the U.K. The band fed off the energy of a mosh-happy, metal-thirsty Dutch crowd that was rewarded with the debut of “Gila Monster.”

King Gizzard continued their European tour in Amsterdam on March 3, at circular former gas storage facility that has a beautiful second life as a concert venue. Part of the crowd at Amsterdam’s Gashouder sat down and “rowed the boat” when the band teased “Dripping Tap,” during “Mr. Beat.”

PARIS — King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard opened their March tour of Europe with “Rattlesnake,” at the Zenith on March 2.