Three Days in the Gizzverse: I’m a Convert!

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard is single-handedly saving rock and roll, and that’s exactly what modern music needs right now.

That epiphany struck midway through the prolific Aussie band’s first Field of Vision set on Friday, August 15, at Buena Vista’s Meadow Creek. And after experiencing three marathon runs through Sunday, August 17, I firmly believe it – and can officially be considered a convert.

The unexpected onslaught of down-under desert doom, psyched-out Eastern acid rock, jam-jazz fusion interludes, powerful punkish singalongs, hip-hop hype pieces and even the synth-prog of the nightly Nathan sets made for serious sensory overload that’s going to take some time to fully process. But this is your mind on KGLW.

I must confess, as a metalhead whose only touchstone before this weekend was Infest the Rats’ Nest, particularly the song “Self-Immolate” after a ski-bum buddy eagerly bragged about how thrashy it was when it came out in 2019, the idea of watching nine no-repeat hours of King Gizz initially felt intimidating, if not a little torturous. But resisting the journalistic urge to research every aspect of the Gizzverse, or even listen to any of the group’s 26 other albums beforehand (the band recently pulled all of its music from Spotify), proved to be so much more impactful and satisfying in the end.

Forgive me, Gizzard, for I have sinned. On Sunday, I repented for my willful ignorance by perusing the Mirage City area where all the weirdo artists and hippie magic-makers peddled their wares and picking up some bootleg booty, including a couple of live tapes, an unofficial festival poster and a “Big Fig Wasp” Charlotte Hornets-inspired tee.

Only a week after playing a grandiose show in Colorado Springs alongside the Colorado Symphony Orchestra while promoting latest release Phantom Island, a contemporary rock opera and the group’s 27^th record in fifteen years, the superhuman six-piece outdid itself once again by completing a hat trick of three-hour concerts for the first time ever.

“Just so you know, this shit’s insanely fun for us, too,” frontman Stu Mackenzie, the creative tour de force at the center of all this, said at one point.

He’d previously told Westword why he and his bandmates – Joey Walker, Lucas Harwood, Michael “Cavs” Cavanagh, Ambrose Kenny-Smith and Cook Craig – feel so connected to Colorado, and said that it’s quickly becoming the band’s home away from home. Field of Vision (the name is a reference to the King Gizz song, in case you didn’t put that together yet) proved to be full of several more firsts and surprises – so much so that even the most die-hard Gizz geeks left awestruck each night – as well as an unexpected tragedy no one there will soon forget.

To start, on Friday, Jello Biafra jumped on stage for a cover of “Police Truck,” the 1980 Dead Kennedys single that received a second pop-culture wind after being included on the 1999 Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater soundtrack. By all accounts, it was the first full cover the band had ever done, let alone duet with the original performer.

Mackenzie and Walker showered the Boulder-born punk OG with praise, recalling how a green Gizz even tried to open up for an Australian DK date in the early days.

Biafra christened the collab as the “greatest fucking moment of my life with my favorite fucking band of all time.” His endearing hyperbolic prose was on full display all weekend, as he hopped across the festival’s three stages, spinning records and sharing a spoken-word set dressed in a foam Pope mitre and “Donald Trump Hates Me” T-shirt to kick off Sunday.

Similarly, drummer Jay Weinberg sat in Saturday for “Le Risque.” The current Suicidal Tendencies skin-beater, formerly of Slipknot (yes, that Slipknot), traveled to the edges of the Arkansas River to perform a Sunday side-stage set with Nashville harsh-noise maven Argus. The bleak blackened mayhem the two spewed dazed the crowd at first, but eventually motivated the mass to move accordingly. At one point, an incognito Cavanagh – sporting a Motorhead Iron Fist short-sleeve, Casa Bonita snapback and dark shades – could be seen enjoying the sonic extremity of it all.

Cavanagh and his music-mad mates are certainly no strangers to doing just that. The night before, on Saturday, King Gizz did something it hadn’t done in over ten years by busting out “Empty” after keeping it on the bench for 644 

shows. It’s been so long, Mackenzie debuted a new twist on the 2014 track when he sprinkled in flute. Shortly after, he spotted a sign held by a fourteen-year-old fan named Callum and pulled him on stage, then handed him his signature Gibson Flying V guitar so the young axeman could fulfill his dream of playing “Superbug” with King Gizz.

Rager “Rattlesnake” ended the second night with the help of King Stingray, a fellow Australian outfit also on the festival bill that pulls from indigenous influences and instruments like the didgeridoo.

Highlights from the closing night, which saw King Gizz perform in drag according to the day’s overarching theme, included the only non-orchestral performance of “Aerodynamic” thus far and the announcement of Field of Vision 2026 before “Motor Spirit.”

The legion, an estimated 12,000 strong, responded with a unified roar. From the pulpit, Walker said there were attendees from over fifty countries at this inaugural event. 

The final day had taken on a more serious, somber tone earlier that afternoon, after the news of superfan Matt Gawiak’s death was shared by the band. Gawiak suddenly collapsed Friday during “Oddlife,” and the band stopped the show for about fifteen minutes to make sure he could receive proper medical assistance. Gawiak passed away later that evening, the band told the community on Sunday, and King Gizzard dedicated “Float Along – Fill Your Lungs” to Gawiak.

“We send our deepest condolences to his family,” Walker said. “Let’s give him some big love.” A “Matt” crowd chant followed, while Kenny-Smith started it back up before closer “The Dripping Tap.” The family has organized a Gofundme, which raised over $23,000, as of this morning, and warm hugs and well-wishes poured from around the globe from the Weirdo Swarm.

“Thanks for following us on all our crazy adventures,” Mackenzie, wearing a hot-pink wig and matching dress, expressed as the fest approached the end.

In all, King Gizz blasted through seventy songs, give or take a jam here and there, over the weekend. While there’s not enough space for a blow-by-blow account of each night’s setlist – that’s what the internet’s for – fan favorites included “Gila Monster,” “Gilgamesh,” “Gaia” “Witchcraft” and “Digital Black,” among pretty much every other song Gizz launched into. At least according to the crowd’s reaction.

Literally as soon as the first note of “Gamma Knife” was struck on Friday night, the audience became a caustic cauldron of bubbles, beach balls, balloons and bodies. People – whether they were dressed up as lizards, wizards, Tolkien elves, wart-nosed goblins or Furries, you name it – crowd-surfed during every song every night. The wizardry to conjure up such a visceral response and keep an audience on a string from start to finish, pausing and picking up where they left off each evening, is a rare gift. But King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard is a rare band.

One capable of altering the future.

“I swear they get better and better every time I see them,” Derek, a middle-aged man who flew out from Pittsburgh, said on Sunday. “It’s insane, dude.”

That sentiment permeated the festival grounds. Around the campsites and in those long lines for merch, just about everyone I ran into raved about how strong the King has become, and said it felt like we were witnessing the beginning of something even greater with Field of Vision.

“I just feel fortunate to be on this Earth at the same time as them,” Derek added, as if speaking for everyone there.

After all, there is no Planet B.