After a celebratory inaugural edition over the weekend at Cottonwood Meadows in Buena Vista, Co., King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard’s Field of Vision festival will return to the same site in 2026 on dates to be announced. According to organizers, fans traveled from more than 50 different countries to attend the event, which featured three distinct, three-hour long King Gizzard sets.
Multi-instrumentalist Joey Walker told the crowd last night (Aug. 17), “before we came here, we’re like, fuck, what’s this going to be? How’s tit going to feel? We had the option for next year, and ongoing, but we’re like, we have to wait and see how it feels. Now that we’re here, and I’m assuming that you guys have had a good time, we’re going to do it again.”
“This is wild,” added bassist Lucas Harwood. “It’s beyond whatever we imagined.” “We’ll see you next year,” chimed in frontman Stu Mackenzie. “Please come back!”
Over the course of three days, Gizzard played 69 different songs from its 27-album discography. On Friday, Dead Kennedys vocalist and avowed Gizzard superfan Jello Biafra lent a hand on a cover of his former band’s “Police Truck,” while Saturday’s set boasted the rarity “Empty” for the first time since 2014, former Slipknot drummer Jay Weinberg manning the kit for “Le Risque” and a teenaged fan named Callum being pulled out of the crowd to play guitar on “Nuclear Fusion.”
Band members dressed in drag for the final set last night, which began with a four-song acoustic segment and also paid tribute during “Float Along, Fill Your Lungs” to longtime King Gizzard fan Matt Gawiak, who passed away suddenly while on site the evening before. A GoFundMe account has been set up in his name.
King Gizzard will wind down the year with a European tour beginning Oct. 31 in Manchester, U.K., and will also play seven shows in Australia in December.
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