STOCKHOLM — This city (as well as Oslo) reminded me a bit of my adopted hometown of Minneapolis, though it’s way, way older with incredible infrastructure and surrounded by water.
Gothic pedestrian bridges that incorporate upper levels of buildings, stuff made of stone that looks like 300 years old and ready to last another 300. A perfect backdrop for King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, which in the midst of this month’s tour this week announced another tour through Europe in August.
It’s been a joy seeing the different venues on this mission to catch six shows on King Gizzard’s tour through Europe (the band itself scheduled 17 shows over 22 days in March).
Stockholm’s Münchenbryggerriet was probably the one so far that seemed least designed as a music venue. It’s an event and conference center and was first a clothing factory before being turned into a brewery in 1857.
It was a cold and snowy evening as fans waited for doors to open in Stockholm. Photo by Javier Serna
Gizzheads lined up outside in the cold as the snow fell on the evening of March 7. They would soon be pretty warm inside the building, which seemed to hold about 1,000 people, once opener Los Bitchos got underway. The London-based all-female band has consistently won over the room about mid-way through their sets on this tour. That was the case again in Stockholm.
Pretty much every night, Gizz guitarist Joey Walker has shouted out Los Bitchos at some point in their set. I’ll be writing a piece soon about the band, having interviewed lead guitarist Serra Petale in Oslo.
So the stage was set for King Gizz to open with “Doom City,” one of two that would come out early in the show from 2017’s Flying Microtonal Banana.
Those opening guitar licks from frontman Stu Mackenzie, playing his microtonal banana, riled the crowd up a notch or three, though it was a pretty short and sweet offering before the band flowed into “Minimum Brain Size,” (from 2020’s K.G.) that did include “Rattlesnake” teases before heading back to FMB’s “Sleep Drifter.” Any time the band has teased Rattlesnake on this tour, and sometimes even when the band hasn’t, handfuls of Europeans shout for the song to be played in full. The fans clapped to the beat on this song, and in general the European clap chop has been pretty tight and on-point, regardless of the city.
Those first three songs — two from 2017 and one from 2020 — at least had the ratio down for the show of older to newer songs. Two thirds of the songs played in this show were from 2017 or older, with the rest, six songs, being released in 2020 or later.
Next, it was a pretty straightforward version of “O.N.E.” off 2021’s L.W.
Then, with Walker saying, “This song’s about Satan,” Gizz played played “The Book,” from their 2017 collaboration with Chicago’s Mild High Club, Sketches from Brunswick East, with drummer Michael Cavanagh getting into a drum solo before the band returned to the song’s main chorus.
Mackenzie noted that it was “sick” to be in Sweden, before mentioning Cook Craig’s Swedish heritage.
“I’m back,” Craig said.
“Look at that huge Swedish man,” Mackenzie joked.
“He’s tiny compared to the rest of you,” Walker said.
The band then launched into the loud “Evil Death Roll,” (2016’s Nonagon Infinity), riling up a moshy crowd pretty good. The band jammed pretty good before wrapping up the song, the crowd getting their concise clap going again.
Seven songs into the set, King Gizz opted for a funky “Ice V,” from 2022’s Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushroom and Lava, an album they have reached at frequently in their live performances the last few years. This version had delicate, bluesy play from both Mackenzie and Walker.
The band then went to Craig’s “The Garden Goblin,” off 2022’s Omnium Gatherum, the fans singing the “doo doos”.
The band’s artist and light man Jason Galea has painted the set beautifully this tour. Photo by Sue Serna
Another favorite was pulled out next with some bluesy keyboard, guitar and flute keeping fans in suspense until they let loose with a welcomed “Trap Door” from 2015’s Paper Mache Dream Balloon.
“Well, everybody knows what’s under that door,” Mackenzie sings.
Deeper into the song, he led a jam on his flute.
Then it was another loud song with “The Lord of Lightning” off 2017’s Murder of the Universe, bringing out heavy harmonica play from Kenny-Smith, chunky guitar riffs, the song’s midevil sounding lyrics, and incredibly psychedelic projections from Jason Galea, an invitation for more wild moshing from the Stockholm Gizzheads, which cleared out a giant circle early in this song for the purpose of a mosh pit.
The Stockholm crowd cleared out a mosh pit midway through the show. Photo by Javier Serna
The band slowed things down a little bit, noodling a bit with the flute and horns until meandering into a jammed-out Lava (from 2022’s Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava), pleasing the crowd.
Then it was two in a row off 2017’s Polygondwanaland, a favorite album of many Gizzheads, with another midevil-sounding number in “Crumbling Castle” and then, “The Fourth Colour,” synths and harmonica driving some heavy jams that had the crowd pumping their fists.
The band next rewarded me with my first live “Slow Jam 1.” Off 2014’s I’m In Your Mind Fuzz, it’s my personal favorite Gizz song, an instant psychedelic classic. This was a hell of a stretched out version, bluesy, with soulful guitar playing and some flute effects coming from Kenny-Smith’s synthesizer, while Mackenzie wailed on his Reverse V guitar.
Mackenzie quoted “Iron Lung,” singing “Pins and needles, like a voodoo evil,” and his guitar playing got so bluesy, it reminded me a little of Jerry Garcia before the band took things a little bit dark before Mackenzie returned to singing “I need to slow, my mind down low,” and Kenny-Smith also singing that opening line.
I have this version (the studio version is 2:54) clocked at more than 13 minutes.
King Gizz then turned to the heavy “Self-Immolate” off 2019 Infest the Rats’ Nest, releasing some more crowd energy, which manifested with clapping and wild moshing in the pit.
The band closed things out with their new song “Gila Monster,” debuted only two shows before in Tilburg, Netherlands. I think this version was tighter.