Description
King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard – Live in Asheville ’19 – Double Neon Green Vinyl Records
Some live albums document a concert. Others capture a band in the middle of becoming something bigger than itself. Live in Asheville ’19, recorded by King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard on September 1, 2019, belongs firmly in the latter category. Released as part of the band’s celebrated series of official bootlegs, it preserves a night when King Gizzard had one of the most adventurous live repertoires in modern rock. By this point, they had already moved effortlessly between garage rock, psychedelic jams, jazz fusion, microtonal experiments, boogie rock, and thrash metal, and the concert embraces all of it without ever feeling disjointed.
What makes this performance so exciting is the band’s refusal to treat songs as fixed objects. Studio recordings become raw material for reinvention. A familiar riff may stretch into an extended groove, a quiet passage can suddenly erupt into controlled chaos, and transitions often happen so naturally that entire sections of the set feel like one continuous composition. There’s a confidence here that only comes from a group that has spent years refining its chemistry on stage.
The twin-drummer era—featuring Michael Cavanagh and Eric Moore—is one of the recording’s great attractions. Rather than simply doubling each other’s parts, they create interlocking rhythms that give the music tremendous forward momentum. Their grooves are hypnotic, propelling even the most complex material with an almost danceable pulse.
Frontman Stu Mackenzie acts less like a traditional lead singer than a conductor guiding an ever-changing musical organism. Around him, the guitars, keyboards, harmonica, and rhythm section constantly trade roles, with no one musician dominating for long. That collective approach has always been one of King Gizzard’s defining strengths. Even when an individual player shines, the focus remains on what the band can achieve together.
The setlist reflects a group unwilling to be confined by genre. Material from albums such as Infest the Rats’ Nest, Fishing for Fishies, Nonagon Infinity, and I’m in Your Mind Fuzz sits comfortably side by side, despite the wildly different styles represented. Somehow, the transitions feel completely natural. The concert becomes less about individual songs and more about maintaining an ever-evolving flow of energy.
The recording quality strikes an appealing balance between clarity and atmosphere. Every instrument is easy to follow, yet the audience remains an active presence rather than an afterthought. You can hear the room responding as songs build and release tension, adding an excitement that no studio recording can fully replicate. It feels like standing somewhere in the middle of the crowd instead of listening from a sterile control booth.
One of the pleasures of Live in Asheville ’19 is hearing just how fearless the band is. They never seem concerned with reproducing their albums perfectly. Instead, they treat the stage as a laboratory where ideas can expand, collide, and occasionally veer into unexpected territory. That willingness to take risks is exactly what has made King Gizzard one of the most respected live acts of their generation.
For fans already familiar with the band, this recording serves as a vivid snapshot of a particularly fertile period in their career, just before the ambitious run of releases that would define the early 2020s. For newcomers, it’s a persuasive argument that King Gizzard’s reputation has been built as much on their concerts as on their astonishing studio output.
Live in Asheville ’19 isn’t simply a souvenir from a successful tour. It’s evidence of a band operating with complete trust in one another, unafraid to blur the lines between precision and spontaneity. Loud, unpredictable, endlessly inventive, and bursting with creative energy, it captures King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard doing what they do best: turning a concert into an adventure where anything feels possible.
Brand new, never played and still sealed in the factory plastic
Track Listing
Evil Star
Self Immolate
Venusian 1
Alter Me III
Altered Beast IV
People Vultures
Thing Thing
Beginner’s Luck
Rattlesnake
Cyboogie
Loyalty
Horology
Boogieman Sam
Plastic Boogie
Mars For The Rich
Hell
The Lord Of Lightning
The Bitter Boogie
