IN CONCERT: King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Forest Hills Stadium - August 2, 2025 (ROCK SHOW)
Concert review by Beau Croxton, all photos by Merissa Blitz
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard live at Forest Hills Stadium by Merissa Blitz
On August 2nd, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard returned for a second consecutive show at Forest Hills Stadium. It was billed as a “rock show” to differentiate itself from the previous night’s orchestra show, but it was far more than that. The Australian sextet tore through an array of thrash/stoner metal, microtonal psych-rockers , prog-jams, a modular synthesizer set, and much more. The show marked King Gizzard’s 5th show at Forrest Hills in the past three years.
In recent years, the band has adopted a cardinal rule with their setlists: they don’t play songs that were played at the previous show on the tour. In addition, when they return to a city, they avoid playing the same songs that were played there the last time, to keep the set fresh for their fans. The band delivered on this approach magnificently with tons of songs that have never been heard live in New York, and mixed them with other tracks that haven't been heard in NYC in many years.
The previous night’s elaborate orchestra set prompted (most) of their audience to be more focused and attentive, in order to really take in all of the symphonic intricacies. However, at the rock show, the energy seemed to boil up immediately– it was clear that the crowd was amped up and ready to mosh, dance, crowd-surf, and collectively lose their minds.
HYPERTENSION
On prog-metal opener “Gaia”, frontman Stu Mackenzie let out a shriek on the beat-drop that got the crowd going wild— it took no time at all for crowd surfers to begin sailing over the barricade. “Predator X” amped up the mosh pit even further– with an inflatable alligator pool-float playfully thrashing overhead.
The berserk thrash metal of “Supercell” got the audience even more rabid, as drummer Michael “Cavs” Cavanagh continued to massacre the kit with double-bass blasts. The entire stadium chanting the chorus of “Supercell” was absolutely deafening. Frontman Stu Mackenzie managed to (hilariously and expertly) ninja-kick a beach ball that flew directly his way during the second half of the tune.
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard live at Forest Hills Stadium by Merissa Blitz
“Superbug” is a bit of a rarity when it comes to their metal tracks, and the band has never played it in NYC— so the stadium crowd showed plenty of vocal excitement during the opening bars of this Sabbath-y, stoner metal anthem. Just like during“Supercell”, the stadium erupted for a thunderous, full-stadium sing-along of the chorus, and Mackenzie growled through the hooks with devilish throat-singing.
After bragging about getting to play Stu Mackenzie's infamous microtonal guitar, the “Flying Microtona Banana”, guitarist Joey Walker exclaimed “I’m gonna make this banana cry!”.
The band shredded on their microtonal guitars for “Minimum Brain Size” and “Oddlife”, with the latter exploding into Tony Allen-style drums, lightning-speed guitar leads and a very excellent and rhythmic verse from Ambrose Kenny-Smith.
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard live at Forest Hills Stadium by Merissa Blitz
For their next segment, The sound techs began to roll out a massive table of modular synths that looked like a spaceship. The band and the fans have (amusingly) named this synth table “Nathan”, and the table has become a mainstay of their act since late 2024. The band took the audience into outer space with their extensive synthesizer session that lasted over 35 minutes. People who ingested “a little more than a beer” revealed themselves pretty quickly during this psychedelic portion of the show. Visually, it’s highly amusing to see the band crowded around this table looking like they are either diffusing a bomb, or rewiring their alien mothership.
The band warmed up their potent synth session with a very special, reimagined, robotic revamp of their 2015 acoustic track “Sense”, which was both nostalgic and futuristic. “The Grim Reaper” featured Ambrose Kenny-Smith rapping furiously like the Beastie Boys and even quoting “Intergalactic”, while “Set” from The Silver Cord got the place dancing and grooving to its pumping disco.“Extinction” excelled with some interstellar lyrics and rave-up dynamics that brought the final synth set to a feverish peak.
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard live at Forest Hills Stadium by Merissa Blitz
After “Nathan” was rolled off, The band served up a quadruple-dose of old-school rockers, starting with a seamlessly transitioned duo of Nonagon Infinity tracks: “Wah Wah” into “Road Train”. As soon as I heard the transition into “Road Train” my heart immediately went out to the security team– because it's quite a rip-ride that can encourage even the shyest fans to take a whack at crowdsurfing. As expected, “Road Train” brought the roaring hype and crowdsurfing to another level. Nonagon Infinity is such a definitive and thrilling album for the band– these tunes are always met with pure adrenaline.
Ambrose Kenny-Smith got the chance to sing his heart out when the band dusted off their old gem, “Let Me Mend The Past”. Kenny-Smith sings this number very passionately every time it’s in the set, and the track has risen to become a beloved fan-favorite ever since his emboldened performance in the band’s 2020 concert film, Chunky Shrapnel. The NYC stadium audience belted every last word with Ambrose– it was a major highlight of the night, and it's one of my personal favorites.
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard live at Forest Hills Stadium by Merissa Blitz
“Altered Beast IV” was next– which is a bit of a rarity. This Murder of the Universe throwback track was very well received, very high energy and the instrumentals are always incredible on a technical level.
The chill funk of “Ambergris” gave Walker another chance to shine, and gave the audience another great song to blaze to. Two Flight b741 songs were delivered with “Sad Pilot” (transitioned seamlessly into) “Rats in the Sky”, both having never been played in NYC before. Sad Pilot’s extended guitar solo was a special free-form moment, and “Rats” was full of infectious, uptempo cheer, especially from Ambrose Kenny-Smith and Cook Craig.
The closing track of the night, “Hypertension” was easily one of the biggest highlights of both shows. This fan-favorite track expertly combines the mystical prog-vibe of Polygondwanaland with the ripping jam-style of the “The Dripping Tap”. This particular rendition was complete with energetic deviations that led guitarist Joey Walker to shred even harder than he did in the previous 48 hours. Melodies and vocals from “Extinction” were interwoven in the song, as a fun medley to wrap up the evening. The outro of the track was volcanic and incredible, with Mackenzie screaming his heart out, in hype and excitement. Drummer Mickey “Cavs” went ape with quadruplet drum-rolls and the band locked-in to transcend the whole set.
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard live at Forest Hills Stadium by Merissa Blitz
After their gorgeous and calculated orchestra set, surely all that the fans in NYC wanted from the next show was a loose, adrenaline-filled rock set with some fresh tunes that hadn't been played in NYC before. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard had all that and more covered– with how carefully they consider their setlist going into each city, fans always get an incredibly elevated experience. This is exactly what makes King Gizzard a next-level live-act, and the performances themselves are consistently mind-blowing.
After their stadium-roaring rendition of “Supercell”, Mackenzie said “We love it here. Forest Hills is our spiritual home at this stage.” With their back-to-back shows in ‘24 and ‘25, Forest Hills is becoming a quintessential and iconic spot to catch the band– NYC can only hope for more memories to come.
Check out the setlist and king-sized Gallery by Merissa Blitz below!
All photos of King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard by
Merissa Blitz
( @mblitzphoto)
GALLERY
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(Click images for fullscreen / slideshow)
SETLIST
Gaia
Predator X
Supercell
Superbug
Minimum Brain Size
Oddlife
Sense (synth table)
The Grim Reaper (synth table)
Set (synth table)
Extinction (synth table)
Wah Wah
Road Train
Let Me Mend The Past
Altered Beast IV
Ambergris
Sad Pilot
Rats in the Sky
Hypertension