King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, photo by Maclay Heriot

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard are on the road again, trekking across Europe with the penultimate leg of their 2025 World Tour. After returning from a three-month break with a surprise rave show in their Melbourne stomping grounds, and three more in England from Oct. 31 to Nov. 2, the genre-obliterating psych ensemble turned to a new run of orchestral shows this week, enlisting local symphonies to bolster grandiose renditions of new and old favorites alike.

On Tuesday, Nov. 4, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard celebrated a landmark achievement with their debut at London’s famed Royal Albert Hall. With support from the Covent Garden Sinfonia, the band began their first orchestral show since August with “Phantom Island,” the intro and title track from their 27th studio album. With swells and falls accented by a full company of strings, horns and woodwinds, King Gizzard proceeded through the full setlist of their most adventurous project yet, stopping by standouts like “Deadstick,” “Eternal Return,” “Aerodynamic” and “Sea of Doubt” before ascending to a revelatory and uplifting apex with “Grow Wings and Fly.”

From the project’s closing track, King Gizzard merged seamlessly into Omnium Gatherum cut “Gaia,” letting the orchestra temporarily fall away in favor of a pummeling drum solo. The evening’s latter half featured six further classics from their catalog, winding through “The River,” “Crumbling Castle,” “The Thing” (with a tease of M Beat’s “Incredible”), “Mars for the Rich,” “Dragon” and “Iron Lung.” Wednesday’s show at Boulogne-Billancourt, France’s La Seine Musicale with The Orchestre Lamoureux followed the same setlist, save for a portion of “Rattlesnake” in place of “Gaia.”

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard will return to the stage tonight for another rave show at Tilburg, Netherlands’ “013,” then continue with seven further stops in Europe through Nov. 15. The band will close out their year of touring with a nine-stop Australia series in December. Find tickets and more information at kinggizzardandthelizardwizard.com.