In the wake of their collaborative album, Sketches of Brunswick East, Australian psych giants King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard shook the walls of Lincoln Hall with the help of Mild High Club on September 24 and 25.
The vastly different styles of Mild High Club and King Gizzard come together wonderfully on their collaborative album and on stage. Mild High Club is a Chicago favorite when it comes to psych/jazz influenced work. Most people describe their music as calm and dreamy, but that does not mean their music is boring. Their ability to stand out in a saturated genre makes them the perfect counterpart to King Gizzard’s groundbreaking music.
At the end of the show on both nights, All members of each group got on stage and performed songs from Sketches. In my 21 years on this planet, I have never seen a crowd go nuts for slinky drums and flutes like they did that weekend. However, the hype was not unwarranted. Sketches of Brunswick East might be considered a “softer” King Gizzard album or a “harder” Mild High Club album, but each complicated layer of the album is still electrified and exciting. Hearing some of the tracks played live made the album tangible.
Outside of the collective Sketches performances, the two-night affair was more than memorable. Mild High Club and King Gizzard’s sets reached opposite ends of the spectrum while also meeting in the middle. Seldom was there a moment not filled by music or excited chatter. No one in the crowd was standing still with their arms crossed over their chest. The handful of wooks in attendance was the only thing in my “cons” list, but I would rather they enjoy a King Gizz show than do ketamine at a String Cheese Incident concert (Are wooks still into STI? I’m a little out of touch with that demographic).
View photos from night one here:
View photos from night two here:
Words and photos by Hayley Robertson
slimetimemag.com 