(words by TimelandIsWacky, art by grey_locke)
Welcome to the first annual KGLW.net Gizzies!
2024 saw many twists and turns with live debuts, multiple tours, new songs, and a whole new studio album. There was so much to digest as fans this year. To celebrate and remember what we’ve collectively experienced, we decided to recognize the finest moments of 2024.
We got our results from two different sources. We first ran an internal poll for KGLW.net staff: volunteers were asked a variety of questions ranging from “Best New Song” to “Best Stu Costume/Outfit,” which gave a wide array of results. The more interesting poll, however, was one that we released to everyone via Instagram, Bluesky and Reddit. In it we asked what the best show of the year was and what people’s favorite memories from the year were. In the end we had over two hundred and fifty responses!
There were some very close categories, with multiple tie-breaking votes needed. I can imagine that there were many tough calls for everyone. You may be shocked by some of these results!
We’ll start with the internal vote, and save the best for last!
Staff Picks
Best New Song: Raw Feel
While rivaled by other Flight b741 tunes as well as “Phantom Island” and “Grow Wings and Fly…,” the winner of “Best New Song” was “Raw Feel.” Starting with its intense, driving rhythm, the song features multiple singers who present different perspectives on experience and sensation. Gizz taps into the album’s southern and classic rock influence with heavy percussion, catchy hooks, and gnarly slide solos, but with a seven-beat rhythm it is still recognizably a Gizzard song. This track also stood out live with its extended intro and hard hitting choruses, even getting an acoustic debut on 2024-11-02.
Best South America Show: Buenos Aires (2024-03-18)
The South America tour was characterized by an infectious intensity and this Buenos Aires show is a great example. The “Self-Immolate” that kicks off the show is electric, the “Perihelion” that follows is one to remember with its crowd chants, and “Organ Farmer” > “Converge” > “Witchcraft” is off the walls in the best way possible. Gizzard keeps the energy going on “This Thing” with Joey putting everything into his vocal delivery. The band then delivers a long suite of “Hot Wax” -> “Hot Water” -> “Sleepwalker” -> “Hypertension” -> “Wah Wah” > “Road Train” before ending on extended performances of “The Bitter Boogie” and “Float Along – Fill Your Lungs.” If you missed out on this tour, give this one a listen. You won’t regret it.
Best Europe Show: Wolverhampton (2024-05-29)
Wolverhampton starts perfectly with a performance of “Float Along – Fill Your Lungs” that evolves into a “Dragon” jam. It’s only the first of many extended jams that night. Just like the opener, “Boogieman Sam” turns into something else with a “Sad Pilot” jam and some extensive teasing of “Midnight Rambler” (The Rolling Stones) and “Boogie” (Carson). Giving us a taste of Omnium Gatherum, the band delivers an eighteen-minute rendition of “The Dripping Tap” that gets quite moody during its middle section (it even includes a “Mycelium” quote of all things). A rare appearance of “The Wheel” follows before they bring an epic sequence of “Iron Lung” > “The River” -> “Wah Wah” -> “The River” that goes well beyond the twenty-minute mark. They toss out another rarity with “Sense” paired up with “This Thing.” Gizzard ends with metal, bringing forth a combo of “Mars For The Rich” > “Self-Immolate” as well as “Converge” and “Gila Monster.”
Best North America Show (First Leg): Philadelphia (2024-08-27)
It’s unfortunate that Philadelphia wasn’t officially streamed because this was a real gem. The band starts strong with their microtonal output, focusing heavily on K.G. and L.W. material, including the increasingly rare “Static Electricity” and “East West Link.” The standard-tuning choices that follow this section include an electric “Daily Blues” -> “Hot Water” and a diabolical performance of “The River” featuring nightmarish laughter from Stu and a disco ending that elevates a great performance into something legendary. The Mind Fuzz suite brings us into the C# material with a bang — such a bang that the fire alarms in the venue go off three quarters of the way through the suite. A brutal “Dragon” > “Flamethrower” leads to the debut of “Gilgamesh” and a performance of “Set” that won’t be forgotten. It’s one for the history books.
Best North America Show (Second Leg): Austin (2024-11-15)
Austin’s marathon show at the Germania Insurance Amphitheater is fiery right from the start with a nearly thirty-minute “Head On/Pill” that incorporates numerous teases, from “Am I In Heaven?” all the way to “The Land Before Timeland.” This would be the single huge highlight of most shows but instead they keep providing bangers. An unusual medley of “Field of Vision” > “Antarctica” > “Wah Wah” > “Road Train” follows before they tackle some other Flight b741 favorites. They provide some microtones with the following two songs, including an infamous “Nuclear Fusion.” Nathan gets a considerable amount of time in the spotlight, starting with a wild “Intrasport” -> “Set” -> “Extinction” -> “Interior People” and ending on a gong-shattering “Shanghai” and the first foray into the jam titled “Grow Wings and Fly…” After a quick “Le Risque” Gizzard provides a heavy section of metal tunes, starting with “Mars For The Rich” followed by “Converge” through “Dragon.” The show ends on a very unique moment: a cover of the Yothu Yindi song “Treaty” with King Stingray as well as Stuart Kellaway of Yothu Yindi joining King Gizzard on stage. Everything’s bigger in Texas, including the jams!
Best Acoustic Show: Detroit (2024-08-23)
Detroit is not the best played show, with the band getting progressively sloppier as time goes on, the result of more and more alcohol being snuck onto the stage. But it is full of weird moments like the band going into the audience, a man trying to rush the stage, and Ambrose climbing on top of a semi truck! On paper it sounds like a nightmare but that’s the charm of this one. There are so many strange, funny, and unique moments throughout this acoustic performance and the incredible part is that it’s a very good set divorced from these diversions. The acoustic “Theia” which kicks this whole thing off is a highlight with its integration of “Motor Spirit” melodies, the majestic “Crumbling Castle” > “The Fourth Colour” at the end is a wild ride, and the acoustic Flight b741 material shines brightly. Not to mention the first ever acoustic microtonal section, and an extensive one at that. (We at KGLW.net also love a challenge and the band’s extensive banter certainly proved difficult!)
Most Interesting Live Debut: Treaty
This entry contains names of the deceased, while also briefly covering British colonialism and the subsequent genocides and dispossession.
Out of all of the songs that debuted this year, from synth-heavy tunes like “Set” and “Intrasport” to underrated fan favorites like “You Can Be Your Silhouette,” our pick for the most interesting is “Treaty.” This song stands out for a few reasons. First off, this isn’t an original. The song originates from the Aboriginal band Yothu Yindi and their 1991 album Tribal Voice. Written about the Australian government’s broken promises to recognize the rights of Aboriginal people following the Barunga Statement, “Treaty” is a confrontational protest song that has stood the test of time. While Gizzard has performed many covers over the years, they typically aren’t recorded in any professional fashion. The release of Live In Austin ‘24 made “Treaty” the first professionally recorded Gizzard cover since “Lean Woman Blues” eleven years prior. That’s already quite unique, but what makes it stand out even more is the fact that it's a collaboration. King Stingray joined for this one, fitting considering that multiple members are related to members of Yothu Yindi: Yirrŋa Yunupiŋu is the son of singer, guitarist, and songwriter Dr Mandawuy Yunupiŋu, and Roy Kellaway is the son of bassist Stuart Kellaway. Speaking of Stuart, he also joined the band for this performance, making it a collaboration between three different bands in total. Of course, we can’t forget the powerful humanitarian message here too. Australia’s modern identity is built upon colonization. The lasting effects are still seen today. Indigenous Australians are still fighting for representation within the government. That’s what Yothu Yindi was singing about when “Treaty” was first released more than thirty years ago. This wasn’t some random song picked out of a hat: It was an important collaboration done in solidarity with those fighting for their rights. A truly historical moment.
Best Live Transition: “Boogieman Sam” -> “Sad Pilot” (Stadthalle 2024-05-16)
This is possibly the most vague category in this entire piece. In fact it may have been too open-ended. What defines a great transition? Should it be a -> or a > specifically? Does it have to be specific to a certain show? The questions it raises paired with the number of transitions performed throughout the year made me think we wouldn’t see any consensus, yet amazingly two people came to the same conclusion and determined the winner. Out of the hundreds of transitions this year, the winner was the “Boogieman Sam” -> “Sad Pilot” transition in Offenbach, if not the entire first half of the show as a whole. This one is seamless. “Boogieman Sam” ends following the stuttering guitar solo and a harmonica solo by Ambrose. Cavs slowly brings the tempo down underneath a sliding guitar part. There’s a short mid-tempo jam before they kick right into the live debut of “Sad Pilot.” As mentioned previously however, this is part of a much larger jam of “Gamma Knife” > “People-Vultures” > “Mr. Beat” -> “Boogieman Sam” -> “Sad Pilot” > “Hot Water” -> “Sea of Trees.” You could really argue that some of these other transitions should have made it in, as one of our crew members did.
Best Show Poster: Inglewood (2024-11-01)
At first it appeared to be a four-way tie between the Gorge (2024-09-14), Inglewood (2024-11-01), Stanford (2024-11-04) and New Orleans (2024-11-17) shows, but in the end Los Angeles won. Galea’s poster for the Forum depicts a lizard shrouded inside of a reptilian skull pouring some potions onto the band’s name, which seems to be spelled using some sort of fungus or scum. One of our crew members described it as a lizard wizard creating the band’s name (if not the band itself) through alchemy. It’s mysterious, a tad bit disgusting, but so distinctly Galea. An incredible poster for an incredible show.
Best “Nuclear Fusion” Fan Participation: Mystery Jack (Inglewood 2024-11-01)
Getting a staggering 50% of the vote was Mystery Jack’s appearance in Inglewood on 2024-11-01! For those unaware, Mystery Jack is one of the most prolific Gizz tapers within the community and has followed the band since 2017. He actually had his 100th show this year when the band stopped in Austin on 2024-11-15. Two weeks before that, Gizzard called him on stage at the Forum and it was certainly one for the history books, as well as a perfect encapsulation of the band’s gratitude towards tapers and bootleggers. While Mystery Jack won this year, we’d like to extend a shoutout to everyone who introduced this legendary song on stage in 2024!
Best Stu Scream/Woo: Extinction (2024-09-14)
This one was interesting as it ended up including some Stu adlibs that weren’t screams or woos, like his burp during “The Fourth Colour” on 2024-09-01 as well as his evil laugh during “The River” on 2024-08-27. While it was close, a tie-breaking vote let “Extinction” win. Picture this: the band just made their way out of an electrifying performance of “The Silver Cord” which only grew more intense as time went on before transitioning directly into a crowd-pleasing “Extinction.” The song is relatively safe and the crowd is enjoying it, but when the band drops out at the three-minutes mark, Joey starts riffing on guitar. Stu and Amby start again but as they sing “zooming out into the void,” Stu lets loose. The resulting eight-second scream is bone-chilling, as if it came from a brutal metal record, and it lands perfectly on top of one of the the hardest drops of the year.
Best On-Stage Antics: “Field of Chicken” (Richmond 2024-08-28)
No matter what happened this year, Ambrose was going to win this category. He was always up to something, whether it was riding an inflatable gator, grabbing a bag of popcorn to throw into the audience mid-song, or hopping on top of a semi-truck to sing, he continued to find little adventures to go on during each show. While the Motor City semi-truck incident almost made it, nothing was as popular as the chicken in Richmond. Poultry is prevalent as early in the show as “Evil Death Roll”, as Ambrose quotes The Blues Brothers while eating roast chicken right out of a bag. Before “Raw Feel,” Joey and Ambrose talk about it being inspired by putting your hand in a bachelor’s handbag. Ambrose isn’t quite sure if Americans know the term but says that it helped him through his teens. Graciously, he throws the bag into the audience for fans to devour. Yet it doesn’t stop there: During “Field of Vision” he alters the chorus to be about chicken, cementing this bit as one to be remembered.
Best On-Stage Mishap/Accident: Barrier Break (Gorge 2024-09-14)
The Gorge provided one of the most exciting shows of the year, but it was a bit too exciting for fans in attendance. The band’s performance of “Venusian 1” was cut off as the barricade in front of the stage split and broke, leading the venue’s staff to try and fix it as the crowd tried to get out of their way. The band didn’t play for eight minutes during the fix, but still managed to entertain the audience, with Joey calling his mom on FaceTime followed by an acapella performance of “Vegemite”, closing a 489-show gap. While they tried to continue the show as drawn up, the issues persisted and led to multiple songs needing to be cut from the setlist. Despite the skipped songs, the barrier break remains one of the most iconic moments of the year.
Best Stu Costume/Outfit: Jacket and Wig (Stanford 2024-11-04)
Stanford saw Stu donning multiple outfits throughout its runtime, but the jacket and wig combo during “Field of Vision” takes the cake as the best. Very sassy and confident! Too bad the wig flies off midway through the first chorus.
Your Picks
Best Show of the Year: Austin (2024-11-15)
The moment you’ve all been waiting for. Your pick for the best show of the year was Austin (2024-11-15)! It’s easy to see why with its incredible jams, unique debuts, notable moments, and memorable sit-ins. There’s always something exciting happening throughout its over three-hour runtime. The band was on fire the whole night and never let up. You can feel it even on the bootleg. It was a special night which will undoubtedly remain a favorite for years to come!
Best Moments
We received so many responses to this one that we can’t possibly share them all, but here’s some amazing highlights that you shared with us:
“Stu swimming in Portland Maine!”
“Cavs being everyone's best friend”
“Joey’s DJ set at the rave. Was so incredibly fun and special. Or Ambrose on the gator at Forest Hills!!!!”
“The Rave when they played Intrasport!”
“Hearing everyone chant MOOOTUH SPIIRRRRIT”
“The fellas saying ‘Fuck Elon Musk’ during Mars For The Rich”
“The pit in the rainstorm in Troutdale during the insane metal set”
“When Stu tried to kick the air but fell down”
“When cavs broke the gong at austin”
“Cheryl Waters introducing the band at Wide Awake Festival”
“God is Calling me back home played for it's 13th time ever at my 13th show.”
“Buenos Aires (side show). They played hot water and stu did this wierd flute jam idk if he ever this one like this. It was so relaxing and like energizing, only his voice and the flute. Almost a year from that and still every time i hear that song my mind says ‘haaaaaaaaat... woreeeeeh’”
“Primer show en sudamerica simplemente épico e inolvidable. Setlist sólida. Y la gente estaba vuelta local.”
“Cavs gave me the last drum stick at abq”
“Giving a first timer his pick of my sticker collection!”
“Gabby Nuclear Fusion and Gabby crowd chant @Forest Hills”
“Stu's intro to Witchcraft at the Brighton acoustic show, then spotting the fans who inspired it in the crowd.”
“Timmy coming on stage in Boston and playing Perihelion on guitar in honour of his late friend, Joey.”
“being on a videocall with my son during Slow Jam 1 in Vienna”
“After 2 flights, 2 trains & a cab…I get out of the car to Interior People soundcheck at the Frost”
“Interior People debut in Stanford, that distinctive bass line intro sent me over the edge, such a joyous moment!”
“Cleveland with my wife and our two oldest boys (5 and 8)”
“I drove from Minneapolis to Detroit for their acoustic show and the weather was perfect. Show kicked off with Theia and I just felt the show was going to be a classic, special night and it did not disappoint”
“My favorite moment was driving 5000 miles following Gizz on the second leg of the tour! Big shout out to my wife, ‘Those who Gizz together, Stay together.’ All King Gizz shows were amazing! I loved every second of the tour, the driving, the music, the community, the energy!”
“It was my first gizz show in Vegas this year, I have been listening to them since 2016 on the way to school with my mom, and fell in love ever since. I was pouring with excitement and I barely can even pick out certain points of the show because of how absolutely mesmerized the whole time I was. But if I had to choose one I would def have to say how hard they came in on KGLW which is my favorite metal microtonal song with the riffs in that, I was in the pit as well it was absolutely insane I loved every minute of it and I can’t wait to go to field of vision!!! KGLW🐊🤟🏼”
Thank you to everyone who voted and sent in their favorite memories!
2025 is shaping up to be a big year for King Gizzard with a new album, a residency tour throughout Europe, a return to Bonnaroo for a three-night residency, an orchestral tour in the United States, and the highly anticipated Field of Vision festival. Who knows what other surprises will occur throughout the coming months. Of course, KGLW.net will continue to provide every bit of info we can surrounding this band we all love. Breathe a deep breath and take care of one another, here’s to a new year!