📅 Date: 03.10.19
📍 Venue: Victoria Warehouse, Manchester
👥 With: Tracey, Alun Beans, Jxhnno Entity
🎶 Support: Stonefield (AUS)
Went to see King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard at the Victoria Warehouse with Tracey. In theory, it should have been a full-blown psychedelic voyage. In reality? Felt a bit more like I had stumbled into a party I was not invited to. Do not get me wrong - the crowd was buzzing, the visuals were wild, and the band was tight - but something did not connect. Maybe it was me. Maybe it was them. Or maybe it was their schizophrenic setlist.
What I wanted was that hypnotic, loop-heavy drive like you get in their track Rattlesnake - trance-inducing psych rock with grit. But instead, the night turned into a sonic smorgasbord. Gizz (ooh matron!) leapt from one genre to the next like they were flicking through Spotify with a broken skip button. Psychedelic jam? Check. Microtonal madness? Sure. Suddenly some thrash metal? Why not. Then a jazzy breakdown. It was all technically impressive, but emotionally a bit... disconnected. I felt like an outsider - gatecrashing someone else's inside joke.
One genuine highlight was catching up with Alun Beans (yes, that crazed Seagull Kinevil guy from the Valleum capital of the world, Amlwch) and the tattoo gangster of Trearddur Bay, Jxhnno Entity. We hung out for the support act - a stoner-psych band from Australia called Stonefield. Tight musicianship, cosmic energy, and a drummer with serious presence. They nailed their set with a confidence that made them feel right at home on that big stage. In contrast to Gizzard’s genre roulette, Stonefield brought focus, groove, and atmosphere. They stole the show, in my humble, slightly disoriented opinion.
Maybe it was not the gig I wanted, but it was still a night out soaked in sound and soaked in rain - because, Manchester. It is always good to feel bass in your chest and hear guitars that sound like they are melting. Would I see King Gizzard again? Maybe. But next time, I will pray to the psych gods for a set that holds its ground instead of sprinting in every direction at once.
Were you there? Got a different take? Drop your thoughts below. More music misadventures to come - stay weird.
