Top 5 years for live King Gizz

Live Gizz
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Top 5 King Gizz Live years

Inspired by the Top 5 King Gizz years post on reddit, here is the top 5 live King Gizz Years in my opinion (not necessarily when recordings were released).

5 - 2014 - a bunch of great matrix recordings including 1st US shows and Austin Psych fest that became an official bootlegger. Great mix of Mind Fuzz, FAFYL and still some older garage rock tunes.
4 - 2019 - all those official bootlegger shows with big long setlists and a few 2 night stands with no repeats. Some very diverse shows with Rats Next and FFF songs added to rotation.
3 - 2024 - off to a great start, introducing 5 new blues/rock songs and trading off vocals in each song in interesting ways. Introduced Frankenstein’s table monster, which we need a lot more of (where is Change, Magenta Mountain and Shanghai for example). Still too early and no US shows yet to see how good this year will become.
2 - 2023 - US residency tour with high quality streams. More new material. And synths begin to make their appearance with the now legendary stretching out of Shanghai in Australia earlier in the year, and many amazing synth jams throughout the year, including Change in Chicago. New metal album brings in another wave of fans. If only there were more shows, 2023 might of made it to number 1

Honorable Mentions:

2018 - the year before FFF and Rats Nest had introduction of Gumboot Soup songs along with fun mixes of the other 2017 albums, with still a lot of Nonagon and Mind Fuzz material. If only there were more high quality recordings from this year.

2021 - not a ton of shows, but the end of 2021 is when modern Gizz really got started as songs started getting stretched out at the pair of acoustic shows and jam night in Australia in December. The microtonal tour earlier in the year has deep cuts and playing was super tight. Live in Melbourne and Live in Sidney are fire.

Number 1

2022 - King Gizz kicks off year with 2nd marathon in Australia before taking on the US jam scene as The Dripping Tap is released and live versions sound just as good or better than the OG version. Anyone lucky enough to catch April-June mostly US and Mexico shows at mostly 500 people capacity venues will cherish those experiences for a long time. Word begins to spread of 20+ minute versions of The River that are turning jaded jam fans heads and Mr Beat segues that melt your soul like butter. Hypertension and Ice Death songs hit the setlist just as thousands of US fans hop on board, making for a legendary fall tour with 4 marathons including 3 at Red Rocks with no repeats, an unbelievable Stu birthday show in Atlanta, and their 1st Halloween concert since 2014.

What is your rankings?

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I think my ranking is almost the exact same. Might bump 2019 above 2024 for now though, although I could easily see 2024 jumping ahead.

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This band will boogie hard 2024. Wait until you hear the fast bitter boogie. Not my favorite setlist, but they slayed tonight. Stu was in rare kilt wearing form.

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1 - 2017
This is simply the year I saw them live first, and the only year I have managed to see them more than once (though the second show was just the same as the first but as a condensed festival set). I think this will likely remain my favourite era of studio releases, and it was completely mind blowing to hear so many of those songs on stage, mixed in with the staples from Nonagon and Mind Fuzz they had in high rotation at the time.
Maybe there aren’t a load of good unique recorded performances, but it was just a special time for me.

2 - 2022
The year they led me into understanding what a jam band actually was and meant, and of course the genesis of KGLW.net which was a crucial part of that for me. This was the first time I started seeing live music again since the start of the pandemic, which drove my re-learning just how to be in public around other people, and travel between cities again. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to catch King Gizzard in person in 2022, but I was following however I could and was so thrilled they were able to tour properly again.

3 - 2023
Maybe in a less personal way this was better than 2022, and at least was a fuller realisation of the jamming thing. Residency tour had some of their highest highs for sure, as well as some all time individual favourites such as the PALP festival in Switzerland and Caverns acoustic.

4 - 2019
I think 2019 is starting to get a little underrated as the true beginning of the jam era as the first year that really made sense to go and see more than one show in a row. They had booked their first marathon, and I think they were using this year to practise diversifying setlists. The ‘vocabulary’ of jamming wasnt all there yet with teases, quotes, and improvisation, but they were putting so much energy into their live performance to incorporate songs from both the two wildly different styled albums they released, while still adding bust outs and evolving staples. Chunky Shrapnel tends to get buried in the mix of available live recordings, but it is a lot more than it gets credit for.

5 - 2014
This is the first year we saw what the band was really capable of on all fronts, and they achieved just the right balance between their raw and focused tendencies. Every recording from this era is a gift and fun as fuck in a way that they will never recapture. Right now is the most wild and free you will ever be.

I still love the two acoustic sets from 2021 so much that it’s a shame to not be able to include that year in the list, but it was just too chaotic. So I guess that’s the honourable mention.

It’s also too soon to consider including 2024, but they’re still on top form and it’s shaping up to be one of their best.

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I sure think 2024 is shaping up to be on this list…possibly high on this list!

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I’m a little surprised 2016 didn’t even rate an honorable mention. It was the year they first really gained traction in the US. I would put it above 2014 and 2021.

My Top 5, with a heavy bias towards US tours:
5. 2017 - this was the genesis of modern Gizz. First time they played anything other than rock n roll, with the microtonal songs in rotation. Also the first year where we really starting seeing some (but still not much) variation in the setlist.
4. 2016 - The last and (IMO) best year of early Gizz. I saw 2 shows on the Nonagon tour, including the show at the Independent that was officially released, and while the setlists were pretty much the same every night, the energy was just off the charts from the first note to the last.
3. 2019 - A pivotal time in the history of the band. Rats Nest and FFF were new, and they were really varying the setlists a lot from night to night. This year saw performances of some really fun songs that they have stopped playing (for now), like Cyboogie and Acarine. A big peak for the band right before Covid.
2. 2024 - I haven’t been to a show yet this year, but based on the streams they have leveled up once again. They’re at the very top of their game, and the addition of the table has opened yet another dimension of music for their live shows. I think this will be in the #1 spot when all is said and done.

  1. 2022 - I was lucky to see 7 shows this year, and all of them were unique and off the charts. This was the year they became big and undeniable.

Honorable Mentions: 2023, 2018

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