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Sam and I went to see the imaginatively named group, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, for three nights this past weekend (Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights). They’re calling this their “Residency Tour”, a joking reference to bands who set up shop in places like Las Vegas and just play the same venue over and over. In this particular tour the first and last shows are single evenings, but at four cities in between they are playing multiple nights. Sam and I saw KGLW last year at the Paramount and it was a great show but they really are a band that seems to better suited to festival-like outdoor settings.
The band played at Remlinger Farms in Carnation, Washington, which at first seemed like an odd choice. Maybe it is but the first choice was even more odd. Originally the three shows were going to be at Carnation Farms, which is a really small place from what I read. Carnation Farms looks like it could host maybe 600 people and when they announced it seemed very strange since KGLW is a pretty popular band.
Remlinger Farms is a more recognizable venue that they’ve been working for years to grow. They have a “family fun park” with a little train for kids along with other kids activities, a restaurant and brewery, a country store with mostly food stuff (think jellies and jams and that type of thing) and u-pick fields. Maybe some other things as well. I remember about ten years ago in the news there was a story about how the owner wanted to get Remlinger up and running as a concert venue but nothing really ever came of it. All that said, I was curious to see how many people they could actually host and what it would be like.
Turns out they can host far more people than I thought. All three nights were sold out and a little Google research says the capacity is 5,000 people, which after being there and seeing the crowd seems about right. I would say about 75% of the attendees were going to all three shows like Sam and I did. I didn’t talk to very many people who were only there for a single night.
I don’t think Remlinger has ever hosted an event this big, let alone for three nights in a row, and I was interested to see how they would handle it. The heavy lifting was done by STG (The Seattle Theater Group), who also is responsible for several venues downtown and most of the people working the critical areas were STG employees. That definitely helped things flow smoothly but the venue was obviously new to them as well.
The first concern was that there really is only one entrance to the farm, at least that’s what I thought. It turns out they had another road to get people out of the parking lots to the main highway and thank goodness for that. As it was it took us well over an hour sitting in the car to get out of the parking lot the first night. Over the three nights things definitely improved and you could tell they were learning but there’s only so much they could do to move traffic along.
Getting into the venue itself was another story. As expected it was basically just a large field so once you were in there wasn’t an issue. Security seemed to have come from an earlier place and time though. I can’t remember the last time I went to any large event (or really any concert, large or small) that didn’t have metal detectors but there were none here, not even handheld wands. There wasn’t supposed to be any outside food or drink but to say that was not being enforced is an understatement. They were doing bag checks but it felt like they were simply looking for weapons, and even then I’m not sure they would have found them if someone had brought something. For example the third night I went in and then back out to the truck to get an umbrella for Sam (which he didn’t use so it was a wasted walk, but whatever). They stamped my hand as I left the field but didn’t bother to even ask if I had anything when I came back. I was wearing full rain gear (it was pouring rain at that point) and I could have hidden most anything under my gear and they would have never known. All this might seem like a critique but it’s really not. If anything it was refreshing, like something from an era 30 years gone by when all the security wasn’t a thing. Luckily the crowd was great and nothing happened, but as was proven the same weekend at the Gorge where there was a shooting incident, we don’t live in the past. It all worked out this time though…
Remlinger also hosted the food and beverage areas. I tried three meals and finally got it right the third night. The first night I had the burger, which tasted like something your neighbor cooked on his grill for the kids, except this one was undercooked. Not good. The second night I tried a chipotle chicken wrap. It was better but I’m pretty sure the chicken was canned. If you had told me it was tuna fish I wouldn’t have known the difference. The third night I tried the tamales and finally found something that was worth paying money for. The funny thing is that tamales are time intensive to make so it was surprising they would have them and not only that but they were the cheapest food on the menu. Sam and I agreed they were also the best. That and the carrot cake. I was teasing the gal who took my order on the third night that they’re a working farm with u-pick fields in the middle of strawberry season but they didn’t have any strawberry shortcake on the menu. She challenged me to try the carrot cake and said it was their claim to fame, and she wasn’t joking. $6 got me a huge piece of cake that I split with Sam b/c it was simply too much for me to eat by myself. We both agreed that it was delicious.
So, why would we see the same band three nights in a row? Well, it has something to do with their style of music. If you look up their Wikipedia page they’re categorized as a “psych rock” band, which probably isn’t too descriptive for most people. Even though they don’t call themselves a jam band, they kind of are. They don’t play the same set two nights in a row and never duplicated a song over the three nights. They play a wide variety of musical styles and I always tell people that if you don’t like one song, just wait for the next because it will probably have a completely different feel. The common theme of all their music though is that it gets you moving. The band members are serious musicians who don’t take themselves too seriously.
And the crowd was moving. I’m sure there were people on blankets or lawn chairs towards the back of the field but at least in the front half there was no one sitting, and if they had been they would have been stomped on for sure. Yes, it rained all three nights and Sunday morning apparently was the coldest morning on record at Seatac in 27 years so that tells you something about the weather. That didn’t dampen anyone’s enthusiasm though and despite the picture I was actually perfectly comfortable, but then I was dressed for it. Plenty of people weren’t but that didn’t seem to bother anyone. They just danced more to keep warm I guess. To say it was kind of nuts is an understatement but (almost) everyone stayed under control and had a good time.
Anyway, that was our experience. Both Sam and I had a great time and despite the traffic and the rain and cold we would totally do it again. Lots of fun.
