Field of Vision

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, an Australian band formed in 2010, hosted their first ever stateside music festival in Buena Vista, CO August 15-17. And I feel so freaking lucky to have been a part of it. The festival grounds and scenery were stunning.

Personally, I fell in love with them around 2017, especially with the album Nonagon Infinity, which came out in 2016. In the 15 years the band has been established, they have come out with TWENTY-SEVEN albums. That’s an insanely big catalogue, so if you’re new to their sound it can be hard to know where to start. I’m such a huge live music fan (most years I attend 70+ concerts), that I’d recommend finding their live shows (video or audio) on YouTube under their pseudo account “Bootleg Gizzard” but if you prefer studio albums, some amazing fans created this legendary website for you to get into Gizz. Essentially, you start with an album and based on your experience, which songs you liked, and which sounds you prefer, another album is suggested. And so on and so forth until you’re officially a Gizz Head and a member of the Weirdo Swarm. 

The festival experience was so unique for me and so noteworthy that I decided to get my thoughts down about WHY I felt like there was so much magic that weekend. Truthfully, I went into it so hyped up about history truly being made.

Decades from now, when a book comes out about this band, the First Annual Field of Vision Festival WILL be a major chapter.

With 10,000 people gathered, it was apparently Colorado’s largest gathering of people from the most number of countries - 50 different countries were represented! Truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience. So, let’s dive into why it was so special:

The Weirdo Swarm

Fans of King Gizz are, for lack of a better different word, weird! Weirder than Dead Heads? Yes! Very! There are ZERO expectations for what a fan “should” look like, dress like, act like, feel like, be like. There are no typical stereotypes of fans. The way you can almost “picture” in your mind what the crowd looks like at other shows (Grateful Dead, Metallica, Jimmy Buffet, etc.) that simply doesn’t exist here. There are goth kids, preppy kids, artsy kids, nerdy kids, metal kids, hippie kids, truly every type is represented. You are invited to be truly and authentically YOU without any standards whatsoever. Everyone is welcome to dress exactly as they want to, including a festival-wide drag night that was WILDLY accepted. I’ve never seen so many men wearing skirts, dresses, and makeup in my life! It was awesome.

People from all ages are represented, it’s truthfully one of the youngest pits I’ve ever been a part of. I met a plethora of young people who were merely teenagers all the way up to men and women in their 60s and 70s. It did seem like the closer you got to the stage the lower the average age became… but still plenty of moshers in their 30s, 40s, and 50s. 

There is so much more gender fluidity in this crowd than I’ve experienced at a massive concert or festival. It wasn’t only on drag night, but everyday I met people that used gender-neutral pronouns, or felt more comfortable dressing as the opposite sex. And it was so fully accepted! The toxic masculinity that can appear in other crowds (especially in the jam band community) is also practically non-existent here. Men are permitted to be softer, more open, more engaging, more vulnerable. For a band that rocks this hard, you’d almost expect the opposite…

The fans are so creative and so uniquely styled. Mirage City consisted of over 30 vendors and I didn’t see one single item replicated. Each artist did such an amazing job creating merch, fan art, and swag that was so unique and wonderful. It didn’t feel like a typical “lot scene” and instead felt more like an art fair where fans got to show off their skills and their love for the band, while leaning into their weirdness. 

The Music!

The band played 3-hour marathon sets three days in a row - meaning we heard 9 hours of KGLW during their first annual festival. That’s a LOT of music! KGLW.net is the place to go to track down setlists, song data, and show notes. There is a LOT of information here… let’s dig in! On night one we were treated to 25 songs, night two we got 26 songs, and night three had 19 songs. Over the course of a three-day festival hosted by King Gizz, fans danced and moshed and crowd surfed to SEVENTY songs (69 original and one Dead Kennedy’s song). Those 69 original songs came off of 17 albums:

• The Silver Cord

• L.W.

• Paper Mâché Dream Balloon

• Infest the Rats' Nest

• Omnium Gatherum

• PetroDragonic Apocalypse

• Flight b741

• Flying Microtonal Banana

• Float Along — Fill Your Lungs

• I'm In Your Mind Fuzz

• Phantom Island

• Murder of the Universe

• Gumboot Soup

• Fishing For Fishies

• Oddments

• Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava

• K.G.

• Nonagon Infinity

• Polygondwanaland

Those six Australian men played the hell out of all 70 songs. I was consistently blown away. At times, I even stopped in my tracks in complete awe of how amazing each musician is individually and even more so collectively in this brotherhood. (Although, I wasn’t stopped too often considering I clocked about 30 miles over the three-day festival!)

Most festival sets are about two hours long, and most bands only play 1-2 nights at a festival, but at Field of Vision fans were treated to a MASSIVE amount of unbelievable music. The diversity of their catalog is absolutely insane. In a 3-hour show it’s about a third psych rock / blues, a third metal, and a third house / dance music. They have this amazing experimental synth table called “Nathan” that they bring out and throw down on house music - seeing all of them (4-5 members…) at the table at once is mind-blowing. 

After re-listening to all three shows, my personal favorite is still night two - how can it not be, given how big of a flute fanatic I am?!?!

Fan’s Behavior

I loved talking with strangers, whether it was at a picnic table near the food vendors, during a shift vending in Mirage City, walking around, or at music. I enjoyed asking each person “what’s your favorite thing about this festival so far?” The behavior exhibited by fans seemed to be a common response:

• Have you noticed? There’s not a single piece of trash on the ground! Everyone is taking action to take really good care of this place!

• I haven’t seen a single fight, argument, or conflict between anyone here!

• I’ve met so many amazing people - everyone is so nice!

Truly, hats off to everyone who represented the band, the Weirdo Swarm, and ourselves SO WELL! We took care of a beautiful space, each other, and the reputation of this band in such a beautiful way, better than I've ever experienced at a music event. 

How Tragedy Was Handled

Unfortunately, there was a severe medical issue during Friday night’s performance and the band promptly cut their song off, exited the stage, and the screens went black. It was just about 8 minutes of a scary, unpredictable, and terrible time during their first marathon set. The following night, the band reported that the fan was conscious, which received a huge eruption from the crowd. However, by Sunday the band had to address the crowd and share the tragic news that Matt Gawiak passed away from heart complications. They dedicated the final two songs of the festival to him and his loved ones. His brother even commented that hearing the band pronounce their last name correctly was incredibly meaningful to Matt’s life and remembrance. The Float Along - Fill Your Lungs was one of the most beautiful moments of live music I’ve ever seen. It was so heartfelt, loving, soulful, and meaningful. There was so much purpose behind their playing - there wasn’t a dry eye in the venue, and there were 20,000 eyes! Ambrose led the entire crowd into a chat afterwards (Matt, Matt, Matt, Matt, Matt) before they also dedicated the finale of the entire weekend to Matt as well, The Dripping Tap. 

You can read more about what happened in this Westword article. I was blown away by how much respect the band paid to him, his life, and his family even though the “incident” could have been overlooked. 

Needless to say, the announcement that this event is happening again next year at the same venue (with a rumored fourth night of music!!) prompted many friends to book hotel rooms, AirBnbs, and block off their calendars for the same weekend in August 2026. You can bet that I will be there, as I can’t imagine missing it. It truly was a life-changing experience. Even though this band has been around for 15 years, it feels like they’re just getting started. I’m so grateful to be a teensy little part of it and I can’t wait to see how the band is inspired by the conclusion of FoV. I’m guessing we’ll be treated to a few more albums (my bet is on a huge Nathan emphasis), more American shows, and a potential announcement about a 3-year commitment to future Field of Vision festivals!