King Gizzard - Forest Hills Stadium, 10/21/22

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   It was a fairly cold evening last Friday, but I had good reason to be outside for five hours: King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard were performing at the venerable tennis stadium/music venue in the Ramones' neighborhood of Forest Hills. There was much fanfare and activity ahead of the show, and I squeezed through crowds of dressed up fans and hacky-sack players to take a look at the Gizzcentric record faire beneath white tents, replete with official bootlegs from the past three or so years and copies of Teenage Gizzard. Since I'm unfortunately not made of money I picked up a boxset of the band's 2019 show in Adelaide as my one prize; can you believe that the sw*nky denim-on-denim copy of Laminated Denim was going for $55? Ten more than my triple-LP set? Oh well! I also stopped by the big merch table to pick up a WaHo themed black midi tee before joining the fray in the pit, jealously guarding my treasures in my bag knowing the battles to come.
Leah Senior came out first, having opened for Gizz over the course of their tour. I did miss a bit of her performance as I finished my shopping, but she and her band played a beautiful set based around her most recent record The Passing Scene. She was quickly followed by black midi, fresh off their tour with Black Country, New Road and Quelle Chris. Unfortunately the time constraints of an outdoor venue in a tony residential neighborhood severely limited their set, cutting off their two new cuts and their extra dips back into Schlagenheim, but it was well worth showing up to mosh to some updated versions of their recent tour staples. Turns out "Chrondromalacia Patella" had lyrics this whole time! "953" was uniquely played as the penultimate cut and was the highlight of this brutal performance from BM.

Gizz went on to play a heavy, fiery hour-and-a-half long set focused on this year's Omnium Gatherum and Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava. Us in the pit crew slammed and rowed to these brash and mind-bending cuts as the screen behind Gizz flashed psychedelic colors and recursive views of us and the band. They went on to perform a medley of "Honey" and "Sleep Drifter" via riffs and teases from "Rattlesnake" and "Billabong Valley" as the frenzy only grew and metastasized. "Gaia" was performed with a lengthy drum solo from Michael Cavanagh before the moshing peaked with my fav of the night "Hell".

The rather lighter climax started with the resplendent "Magenta Mountain", providing the eye of the storm for the night. The home stretch was a mix of "Iron Lung" and "Hypertension", a truly freewheeling and powerful performance at the very edges of the Gizzverse.

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LearsFool Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Prog Reviewer Joined: November 09 2014 Location: New York Status: Offline Points: 8642	Post Options Post Reply Quote LearsFool Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: King Gizzard - Forest Hills Stadium, 10/21/22 Posted: October 23 2022 at 20:42
	It was a fairly cold evening last Friday, but I had good reason to be outside for five hours: King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard were performing at the venerable tennis stadium/music venue in the Ramones' neighborhood of Forest Hills. There was much fanfare and activity ahead of the show, and I squeezed through crowds of dressed up fans and hacky-sack players to take a look at the Gizzcentric record faire beneath white tents, replete with official bootlegs from the past three or so years and copies of Teenage Gizzard. Since I'm unfortunately not made of money I picked up a boxset of the band's 2019 show in Adelaide as my one prize; can you believe that the swnky denim-on-denim copy of Laminated Denim* was going for $55? Ten more than my triple-LP set? Oh well! I also stopped by the big merch table to pick up a WaHo themed black midi tee before joining the fray in the pit, jealously guarding my treasures in my bag knowing the battles to come. Leah Senior came out first, having opened for Gizz over the course of their tour. I did miss a bit of her performance as I finished my shopping, but she and her band played a beautiful set based around her most recent record The Passing Scene. She was quickly followed by black midi, fresh off their tour with Black Country, New Road and Quelle Chris. Unfortunately the time constraints of an outdoor venue in a tony residential neighborhood severely limited their set, cutting off their two new cuts and their extra dips back into Schlagenheim, but it was well worth showing up to mosh to some updated versions of their recent tour staples. Turns out "Chrondromalacia Patella" had lyrics this whole time! "953" was uniquely played as the penultimate cut and was the highlight of this brutal performance from BM. Gizz went on to play a heavy, fiery hour-and-a-half long set focused on this year's Omnium Gatherum and Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava. Us in the pit crew slammed and rowed to these brash and mind-bending cuts as the screen behind Gizz flashed psychedelic colors and recursive views of us and the band. They went on to perform a medley of "Honey" and "Sleep Drifter" via riffs and teases from "Rattlesnake" and "Billabong Valley" as the frenzy only grew and metastasized. "Gaia" was performed with a lengthy drum solo from Michael Cavanagh before the moshing peaked with my fav of the night "Hell". The rather lighter climax started with the resplendent "Magenta Mountain", providing the eye of the storm for the night. The home stretch was a mix of "Iron Lung" and "Hypertension", a truly freewheeling and powerful performance at the very edges of the Gizzverse.