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King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard made their triumphant return to the stage on Friday, Oct. 24, with a very special hometown show. The genre-obliterating Australian psych ensemble’s stand at Fed Square, announced only five days prior, was their first in Melbourne since February 2023, and the band celebrated their long-awaited homecoming with a set packed with new material and live debuts.

King Gizzard’s first performance since Field of Vision, their inaugural American festival in August, was one of their traditional rave sets, which in the past few years have given the band a forum for their most experimental impulses. Encircling a modular synthesizer table – affectionately named “Nathan” – at center stage, the sextet turned in unpredictably altered versions of familiar favorites, beginning with “The Silver Cord,” the motorik title track from their krautrock-inspired 2023 studio album. This electrified rendition led the group directly into the metal-forward Omnium Gatherium standout “Kepler-22b,” featuring Ambrose Kenny Smith on congas.

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard continued to cascade through seamless segues with “GIlgamesh” and “Set,” then veered into first-time treatments of new original “JOJAM” and Butterfly 3000’s “2.02 Killer Year,” the latter of which reached an explosive peak as Joey Walker called out “Free Palestine.” Butterfly 3000, the band’s hypnotic, electronically grounded 2021 album, received more play with the live debuts of beloved entries “Blue Morpho” and “Butterfly 3000,” spiriting the group to ecstatic heights before an enthralling set-closer of “The Grim Reaper.” The evening’s final track was densely packed with surprises, including lyrics to “Torture Chamber” and the unreleased track “Black Market Bargain,” as well as quotes from the Beastie Boys’ “Intergalactic” and “Sabotage” and Limp Bizkit’s “Rollin’.”

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard will launch a brief European tour with a Manchester show alongside Kit Sebastian on Friday, then close out their year of touring with a nine-stop Australia series in December. Find tickets and more information at kinggizzardandthelizardwizard.com.