With 28 genre-jumping studio albums to draw from, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard never play the same show twice. But the element of surprise was wielded even more dramatically last night (Aug. 21) at New York’s Forest Hills Stadium, when the Australian sextet welcomed E Street Band drummer Max Weinberg for a guest appearance on the song “Hot Water.”
Weinberg, 75, is the father of fellow drummer Jay Weinberg, himself a longtime Gizzard friend and occasional onstage guest. In fact, the younger Weinberg played with Gizzard last weekend at the band’s Field of Vision festival in Colorado, but this time around, he had to call in for some familial backup. “Jay’s busy. He’s down in Nashville. So Jay made a call and he was like, fuck, alright, I’m gonna call dad,” Gizzard’s Joey Walker said by way of introduction. “[Max] drove all the way from Atlantic City to come up and play a song with us. I just got nervous!”
The musicians jammed “Hot Water” for 12 minutes, with Gizzard’s actual drummer Michael “Cavs” Cavanagh gamely chipping in on bongos toward the end. “That shit’s crazy!,” Walker marveled afterwards. “We’re not worthy.”
Earlier this week, Jay Weinberg saluted the Field of Vision experience, during which he hosted a drum clinic and judged a dance contest in addition to playing with Gizzard. “So many blank-and-you’ll-miss-it moments,” he wrote on Instagram. “It felt like the weekend went by in an instant. Thank you to everyone who shared their time, open mindedness, and positive energy to make for an unforgettable experience.”
The Forest Hill show was the second in a series of three this week, with the first two focused on rock-driven arrangements and tonight devoted to a “rave” set on Gizzard’s bespoke modular synthesizer setup dubbed Nathan. The group will also play a rave show at Under the K Bridge Park tomorrow. Gizzard’s new album, the dance-powered Alien Metal, was released Aug. 14; the group has also completed a collaborative album with fan and friend Billy Strings, but no release date has yet been announced.
