King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard @ Paradiso

Only a few days back Australian psych rockers King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard totally blew everyone away at the Best Kept Secret Festival, proving they are one of the hottest bands right now. This week the second album of this year's total of five albums will come out, Murder Of The Universe, and they are touching down in my home town. I simply need to be there of course.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard at Paradiso Amsterdam, June 20 2017

I'm still a bit tired from the past weekend but I'm certain this band has no trouble energizing me. It is a warm day and the sold out venue is hot. No way these guys will cool us down and we get ready for a hot show. Aussie giants AC/DC's 'Whole Lotta Rosie' blasts through the speakers before the band kicks off with 'Rattlesnake' like they did on Friday and the venue is singing along to the repeating title. This is a promising start of the show and it is clear that people are here for a wild night. They play a few songs that are kind of a warm up for the band. This group is in such great shape they can play the crowd with great ease. They know it will be easy to make this hall explode, but first they are teasing us a bit, simply not going full force yet.

This happens when they get to the the middle part of the show, which is a roller coaster ride from then on. Their music is a blend of a lot of styles, all chucked into a mixer. Watching one of their live shows is like being inside that mixer where you get a few pulses in the beginning, but then it is turned on at maximum speed and there simply is no escape. Halfway 'Altered Beast II' the group suddenly stops. They saw a woman in need who got treated a bit too aggressively by a guy in the pit. True kings these guys are, coming to rescue a lady, and when things have calmed down, they pick up from where they left.

I'm worried this may have messed up their mood or momentum, but no need for that, there simply is no stopping them now. All songs are glued together into one crazy trip, where you can hear parts of earlier songs pop up again. These guys are apparently playing with the space-time continuum, bending it any way they like! True wizards they are! The floor is now one big hot and sweaty pit with people dancing wildly. A continuous stream of crowd surfers pour into the wild mass of entangled body parts. I can see shoes flying around, people doing back flips, this place has gone mad! The visuals at the back show lightning and the venue is filled with electricity as we can feel the floor moving.

After about 90 minutes the band finishes playing and after saying their goodbyes, it leaves a soaking wet crowd behind that just had one of their biggest musical orgasms. This must be one of the best shows I've seen here, simply legendary. All hail the king!



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Setlist:
01. Rattlesnake
02. Doom City
03. Nuclear Fusion
04. Anoxia
05. Billabong Valley
06. Sleep Drifter
07. Alter Me I
08. Altered Beast II
09. Alter Me II
10. Altered Beast III
11. Gamma Knife
12. Robot Stop
13. People-Vultures
14. The Lord of Lightning
15. Cellophane
16. Am I in Heaven?
17. F# Jam
18. The River