Review: King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard Lives Up to the Hype at Red Rocks

Since forming in 2010, the Australian band King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard has accumulated a massive following of frenzied fans who entered the "Gizzverse" and were never the same. Talk to a few fans, and you'll find that even with the band's extensive touring and prolific material, they can never get enough.

When there's such a near-religious zeal surrounding a band, people on the outside looking in can't help but be skeptical. But as King Gizzard proved at Red Rocks Amphitheatre on September 8, the hype is completely justified.
The band was there for the first of three shows in two days; on September 9, King Gizzard will stage two concerts at the iconic venue, as it did last year, when Phish's Trey Anastasio was seen beaming in the audience. And, as at past King Gizzard shows at Red Rocks, fans lined up hours before showtime to ensure a good seat.

By the time the opener, Geese, took the stage the first night, the venue was filled to the brim; latecomers were desperately searching for standing room in the planters after fruitlessly climbing through the rows, all lined with concert-goers decked out in King Gizzard merch. Those who wanted merch, meanwhile, had their own hurdle to leap: a line that snaked halfway down the stairs.
But no line was to be seen during the show itself: All eyes were glued to the stage as King Gizzard kicked off its set with "Daily Blues." The seven-piece band demonstrated a wealth of influences throughout the evening, moving from bluesy riffs to prog and psychedelic rock, with a dash of metal thrown in for good measure. "It's like we're going from blues to ZZ Top to jam and now metal," my friend, wide-eyed, said to me in the middle of the show. She had seen the band before, but the breadth still surprised her: Almost all of King Gizzard's albums lean into varied genres, yet seeing it translated live is whole other thing.
After starting off with the blues, King Gizzard dove into punk with "Elbow," the first song off of its first full-length album that hadn't been played live since 2018, before hypnotizing with "The River," off its 2015 album, Quarters!, and following up with heavier blues-rock in "Le Risque," from the band's latest album, Flight b741. Michael Cavanaugh strutted through the audience before handing the mic to a fan, who screamed the lyric, "Let's ride!!"

Jay Weinberg, best known for playing drums with Slipknot for a decade until 2023, sat in on the kit for that jam and the next, a dive into prog rock with "Gila Monster."
"We love coming here; everyone's so nice all the time," frontman Stu Mackenzie told the crowd ahead of the song, before the venue descended into madness.

The entire show — which included the tour debut of "Stressin'" as well as "Gondii," "Chang'e," "Extinction" and "Am I in Heaven?" — was an uninhibited display of rock-and-roll energy replete with complex music theory that's worth a book on its own. There were indie influences without the pretension, psychedelic jams without the wayward meandering, and pure, unadulterated punk. It was refreshing to see at a venue such as Red Rocks, where jam bands can tend to reign supreme.

But it looks like there's a new ruler on the rocks, and King Gizzard is deserving of its crown.
Rock music has reached new heights with this group, and King Gizzard will be riding that high into its next two shows at Red Rocks. As the band sings in "Le Risque": Adrenaline, my dearest friend / It's you and me until the end.

See more photos from the show below:
Find more concerts in Denver on our concert calendar.