Listen: King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard Share Orchestral Single “Phantom Island,” Plot Orchestral Tour and First-Ever Camping Event
Photo Credit: Maclay Heriot
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard can never stay put for long. Just two months after releasing its 26th studio album and launching a downright chaotic 44-date tour, the tireless, genre-obliterating Australian six-piece has turned the page to yet another bold new chapter. Today, the prog pioneers share “Phantom Island,” an exhilarating orchestral single that trades the scuzzy barnburners of Flight b741 for a baroque orchestral odyssey–one of the very few sounds we hadn’t heard the band try on just yet. This immaculate new track arrives as a preview of the Phantom Island Tour, a ritzy nine-stop U.S. tour next summer that will conclude with the band’s first-ever camping event.
For Flight b741, King Gizzard opted to surrender the meticulous curation of projects like the high-tech krautrock of The Silver Cord and thrash metal headbangers of Petrodragonic Apocalypse*, instead embracing a “no concept album.” Despite this freely-flowing approach, the project that tumbled out was remarkably cohesive—a taste of the band’s trademark explosive neo-psychedelia jams, now chicken-fried in the twang of hard-hitting country rock and dusted with garage rock grit. Introducing the hard left-turn of “Phantom Island,” frontman Stu Mackenzie explains just how this happened:
“Hello world. So our last album was 10 songs. Except we recorded 20 in that session. Here’s a track from the other set of 10. It’s even more maxxed out than the last one. There’s a whole fuckin’ orchestra on there. Hahahahahah! But for real, what a joy to be alive. A privilege to be making music for a living and to be here still after all these years. If you’ve been listening to Gizz for a long time, thank you. We love you so much. If you’re just tuning in, welcome to the cult. Love, Papa Stu xoxoxox.”
“Phantom Island” is a true cult pleaser. Backed by schmaltzy string and horn arrangements, Gizz hold fast to their idiosyncracies, laying out a smoky, slick and dancefloor-ready pseudo-disco cruise that crashes head-on into a jagged, angular and totally unhinged beat-switch. Fans can take this instant classic as a taste of what’s to come on the Phantom Island Tour, which will feature a different 28-piece orchestra at each of its stagings from July 28 to Aug. 11. This run–King Gizzard’s only U.S. performances of 2025–will conclude with Field of Vision, a three-night camping event booked for Buena Vista, Colo.’s Meadow Creek from Aug. 15-17. Learn more about the immersive woodland experience here.
Tickets for King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard’s Phantom Island Tour will go on sale this Friday, Nov. 1 at 11 a.m. ET. Friday will also mark the outset of the final 16-show leg in the band’s current North American tour, which begins with a three-hour marathon set at Inglewood, Calif.’s Kia Forum. For more information, visit kinggizzardandthelizardwizard.com/shows.
Listen to “Phantom Island” on all streaming services now, and read on for a complete list of the band’s upcoming tour dates.
* deep inhale: PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation.
KING GIZZARD & THE LIZARD WIZARD 2024 TOUR DATES
Fri. Nov. 1 – The Kia Forum – Inglewood, Calif. * @
Sat. Nov. 2 – The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park – San Diego^ @
Sun. Nov. 3 – Vina Robles Amphitheatre – Paso Robles, Calif. #
Mon. Nov. 4 – Frost Amphitheater at Stanford – Stanford, Calif. #
Wed. Nov. 6 – The Regency Ballroom – San Francisco $
Fri. Nov. 8 – PH Live – Las Vegas @
Sat. Nov. 9 – Arizona Financial Theatre – Phoenix #
Sun. Nov. 10 – Revel Entertainment – Albuquerque, N.M. #
Tue. Nov. 12 – The Criterion – Oklahoma City #
Wed. Nov. 13 – JJ’s Live – Fayetteville, Ark. #
Fri. Nov. 15 – Germania Insurance Amphitheater – Austin, Texas *#
Sat. Nov. 16 – White Oak Music Hall – Houston #
Sun. Nov. 17 – Mardi Gras World – New Orleans #
Tue. Nov. 19 – Fox Theatre Atlanta – Atlanta #
Wed. Nov. 20 – St. Augustine Amphitheatre – St. Augustine, Fla. #
Thu. Nov. 21 – Factory Town – Miami #
KING GIZZARD & THE LIZARD WIZARD 2025 TOUR DATES
Sun. May 18 – Tue. May 20 – Coliseu do Recreios – Lisbon, Portugal
Fri. May 23 – Sun. May 25 – Poble Espanyol – Barcelona
Thu. May 29 – Sat. May 31 – Lukiškės Prison 2.0 – Vilnius, Lithuania
Wed. June 4 – Fri. June 6 – Lycabettus Theatre City of Athens – Athens, Greece
Sun. June 8 – Tue. June 10 – Ancient Theatre – Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Mon. July 28 – TD Pavilion at the Mann (w/ The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia) – Philadelphia
Wed. July 30 – Westville Music Bowl (w/ Orchestra of St. Luke’s) – New Haven, Conn.
Fri. Aug. 1 – Forest Hills Stadium (w/ Orchestra of St. Luke’s) – Queens, N.Y.
Sat. Aug. 2 – Forest Hills Stadium – Queens, NY %
Mon. Aug. 4 – Merriweather Post Pavilion (w/ National Symphony Orchestra) – Columbia, Md.
Wed. Aug. 6 – Ravinia Festival (w/ Chicago Philharmonic) – Highland Park, Ill.
Fri. Aug. 8 – Ford Amphitheater (w/ Colorado Symphony) – Colorado Springs, Colo.
Mon. Aug. 11 – The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park (w/ San Diego Symphony Orchestra) – San Diego
Fri. Aug. 15 – Sun. Aug. 17 – FIELD OF VISION at Meadow Creek – Buena Vista, Colo. %
* 3-HOUR MARATHON SET
^ ACOUSTIC SET
$ SILVER CORD IN FULL EXPERIMENTAL RAVE SET W/ BULLANT
@ w/ KING STINGRAY, DJ Crenshaw
# w/ KING STINGRAY
% “ROCK ‘N’ ROLL” SHOW
