In a rush and can’t read the whole thing? Make sure to check out “Danger $$$”, “Mirage City”, “Sad Pilot” and “Work This Time”.
Introduction
The grand finale of King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard’s Europe/UK 2024 tour brought the band to Milan, Italy. For the closing show of the tour, the boys allowed their crew to design the setlist for the evening. With their absolute discretion, the crew chose a broad range of songs spanning the band’s entire career. This included tracks from King Gizzard’s 2011 EP Willoughby’s Beach, all the way up to their forthcoming LP.
Show Rundown
There is always a bittersweet atmosphere lingering in the air during the final night of a King Gizzard tour. After a series of high-octane shows, the sudden realisation that the tour is winding down can be quite daunting. Fortunately, Gizz’s 2024 appearance at Circolo Magnolia for “Unaltrofestival'' was monumental. Thus, the band concluded their Europe/UK 2024 run on a high note. This show’s setlist was packed with fan favourites, deep cuts, and previews of what is to come from King Gizzard’s twenty-sixth studio album.
To kick off the evening, Gizz unleashed “Danger $$$”, the first track from their 2011 EP Willoughby’s Beach. Gaspaard, one of the band’s integral crew members, selected this deep cut. “Danger $$$” was brought back earlier in 2024 at Parque Simón Bolívar, Bogotá, Columbia after a near three-year hiatus. During “Danger $$$”, the band included a short yet explosive jam, giving this primitive Gizzard track a new lease on life. This introduction proved that the band still had plenty of energy in their reserves after an extensive trip around Europe.
To follow up this unexpected opener, the band delivered a tight rendition of “The River” -> “Wah Wah”. This has been a staple across the Europe/UK ‘24 tour. In recent years, the jam during “The River” has flowed into evil waters. During this rendition, the band temporarily dipped their toes into this darker side of “The River”, though not for as long as on other occasions, such as the version found on Live at Red Rocks ‘22. Perhaps this was a tactful decision by the band to give a strong juxtaposition when shifting from “Wah-Wah” into “Road Train”. This was the only occurrence of this three-track run throughout the Europe/UK ‘24 run. Gizz acknowledged that Andrea, another member of their incredible team, had specifically requested “Road Train”.
After this beloved trilogy, King Gizzard launched into “Mirage City”, which was dedicated to the band’s primary visual artist and unofficial seventh member: Jason Galea. This was the first electric performance of “Mirage City”, following its acoustic debut at Brighton Dome. As has been the case with the other songs performed across the Europe/UK ‘24 tour, “Mirage City” has been received well by fans, and provides us with even more insight into what we can expect from album twenty-six.
Directly after this, King Gizzard played yet another unreleased song with “Sad Pilot”. This was dedicated to Sammy, the mastermind behind the band’s live audio. Joey also informed the audience that Sammy contributed some pedal steel guitar playing to the forthcoming album. Joey’s vocal delivery on this track is incredible. Each subsequent live version of “Sad Pilot” has topped the previous – this performance is no exception to that trend.
Joey also took the vocal lead on the subsequent track with “Work This Time”. Rather than gracing the audience with a mind-melting solo, the band entered into an esoteric jam, akin to the version at the Hamburg marathon show. For some fans this may have been slightly disappointing, given how special this moment typically is. However, this jam should not be glossed over simply because of the omission of Joey’s solo. The boys were on top form during this section of the show; I strongly encourage everyone to check out this version, especially if you are searching for a unique rendition of this ballad.
The show concluded with a relentless trilogy of metal. Before starting “Motor Spirit”, Stu was having technical difficulties with his amp. This was especially unfortunate given that he had faced issues with his pedal board the night prior in Lyon. This was quickly resolved and did not cause too much disruption to the show’s final moments.
Following an impressive play-through of “Motor Spirit”, Gizz delivered an epic performance of “Dragon”. The band’s confidence and ability to execute this rhythmic monster continues to improve – this version is exceptionally tight, especially during the breakdown towards the tail end of the song.
“Self-Immolate” was chosen to close the evening (and therefore the tour). Cavs battered his drum kit during a monstrous opening solo, exhausting his energy stores before heading back to Australia. “Self-Immolate” is an exceptionally rare show closer; the last time it was played as the finale was 2019-11-16 at Parma Rama 9, Bangkok, Thailand. This performance demonstrates the strength of this track as a closer – perhaps it will be more frequently placed at the end of the set.
Closing Remarks
Before selecting “Self-Immolate” as the closer, the band originally intended to play “Am I In Heaven?” This would have been a beautiful full-circle moment, as the tour opened with this in Brussels. Nonetheless, “Self-Immolate” was a great way to end this run.
The Europe/UK ‘24 tour leg has been an exciting time for Gizzheads. The tour was defined by its abundance of live debuts. Nonetheless, there are several tracks yet to be played from multiple albums, including The Silver Cord and Butterfly 3000. With the first part of this year’s US tour kicking off in two months, it is exciting to speculate what songs will be brought to the live setting.