Last Wednesday night, O2 Academy played host to King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard as they embarked on the Yorkshire stretch of their European and UK tour.
Following a successful US tour, the 7-man Aussie band released their 15th album in 7 years – ‘Infest the Rats Nest’ – with its environmental message crossed with thrash metal being new to fans but in more ways than one, completely unsurprising from the weird rockers.
The latest album bears obvious similarities to King Gizzard’s influences, with the sound and style of the tracks all bearing odes to the chaos of rock icons Black Sabbath, Metallica, Led Zeppelin and Slayer etc. Although this means the band have transformed from psychedelic rock to something much more thrash metal, fans have greeted the change with warmth and excitement, as was apparent during their Leeds show.
The boys began their show with a heavy tune to get everyone riled before slowing down. This accompanied by kaleidoscope visuals and a constant transition between blue, red and green lighting choices gave the entire show an alien, trippy feel. Soon enough however, a riot was kicked up as the tracks progressively got heavier and heavier, screaming their new message of climate consciousness and how essentially (and rightfully) humans have fucked the environment.
It goes without saying that the highlight of the show was the performance of their well-loved, top tune ‘Beginners Luck’, with concertgoer after concertgoer being escorted from the crowd continually as they pushed their luck moshing and crowd-surfing, all of which O2 sadly aren’t fans of, making me wonder just how much more mad the show could’ve been had it graced a smaller venue.
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard are one of Australia’s most popular bands on the scene at the moment and they show no signs of slowing down. With all of their spaced out but heavy metal performances giving fans a real taste of euphoria, alongside their various (and endless) production of new, wacky and eclectic tracks, it’s no wonder that the majority of their shows have been sold out – and will no doubt continue to sell out for years to come.