The Jesus Lizard performs at the Fillmore in San Francisco on May 5, 2025. Michael Chan/STAFF.

SAN FRANCISCO — “Hello boys and girls,” David Yow, vocalist for The Jesus Lizard, told a cheering crowd Monday at the Fillmore, moments before launching himself into attendees. The band struck the frantic opening chords of “Puss,” from 1992 album Liar. Yow would spend most of the first song crowd-surfing, his black cowboy boots just barely visible amid the chaos.

The Chicago quartet brought its unique brand of unhinged precision to the first of a two-night stint at the Fillmore. While The Jesus Lizard has toured sporadically over the last two decades, its latest tour, which began with East Coast dates last fall and heads over to Japan this summer, is underway in support of Rack, its first new album in more than a quarter of a century.

Songs from the new album comprised about half of The Jesus Lizard’s 75-minute set. Yow dedicated “Hide & Seek” to opening act I Speak Machine’s vocalist, Tara Busch. The song’s syncopated starts and stops framed a particularly manic rant by Yow.

Even after 40 years, very little has changed in terms of the basic ingredients of The Jesus Lizard’s music. Bassist David Wm. Sims’ and drummer Mac McNeilly’s impeccable timing anchored the lurching syncopation of “West Side” and the relentless propulsion of “What If?” Guitarist Duane Denison, who studied under classical guitar master Christopher Parkening, delivered razor-sharp bursts of guitar, slicing through songs like “Mouthbreather” with surgical precision.

Against this backdrop of tightly wound musicality, Yow’s frenetic stage presence juxtaposed a kind of glorious derangement: part barfly, part angry toddler. During “Gladiator,” he lifted his shirt theatrically while howling the line, “A pain in my side,” before leaping into the crowd once again.  Yow later complained as fans carried him away from the stage instead of toward it at the song’s conclusion. During “Boilermaker,” he dropped his microphone with a thunderous crash and a couple times between songs, he rallied the crowd into chanting “Fuck Trump.”

The Jesus Lizard performs at the Fillmore in San Francisco on May 5, 2025.

Amid songs from its latest, the band sprinkled a number of standards from earlier albums. Many sang along as Yow screamed “I can swim!” at the dramatic conclusion of “Seasick.”  At the end of “Thumbscrews,” from 1996’s Shot, Yow handed the mic to a fan who proceeded to offer up their own unhinged war cry.

During the evening’s two encores, the band mixed several new songs with classics like “Monkey Trick,”as well as the band’s cover of The Dicks’ “Wheelchair Epidemic.”

“See you tomorrow,” Yow said as the band filed off stage.

Earlier in the evening, I Speak Machine, the duo of musician Tara Busch and video artist Maf Lewis, warmed the crowd up with industrial noise, weird films and Busch’s frenzied vocal delivery. Busch stalked the stage as throbbing bass and white noise blasted the audience on songs like the Nine-Inch-Nails-esque “War.”