Matt Gawiak GoFundMe raises more than $56,000 after fan collapses and dies at King Gizzard concert

Tragedy struck at the Field of Vision Festival in Denver, Colorado, on Friday when a fan collapsed during a King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard performance.

According to a report by the Daily Mail, Mathew (Matt) Gawiak reportedly felt dizzy before falling before he lost consciousness and stumbled on the ground during the performance. Unfortunately, he passed away on Friday at the age of 36. 

A GoFundMe initiative has been organized to collect the expenses for his funeral, among other reasons. 

Everything we know about the GoFundMe fundraiser for Matt Gawiak

This is still getting attention so icymi there is a gofundme to help pay for funeral costs.
RIP Matthttps://t.co/REr1xUoX7G https://t.co/iNk1ecVYaC

— idiotlizard🦎 (@idiot_lizard_) August 19, 2025

At the time of publishing, the drive has already amassed $56,923 from over 1,3K donations. The target has been set at $65K. Ali Zangle arranged the GoFundMe fundraiser after the tragic death of Matt Gawiak. Looking back at Matt's life and personality, she described him as a "loving and beloved husband, son, brother, uncle and friend" and the love of her life and her best friend. 

He shared several interests and enjoyed 

"playing guitar, camping, skiing, traveling, cooking, live music, and above all else, sharing those experiences with the people he loved."

Expressing her thoughts of losing her partner, Zangle further continued:

"I find some peace knowing that he was surrounded by music and a community that was special to him and that he was truly happy in the moments before he tragically passed away."

Matt's loved ones made the decision to organize the donation campaign to "help those he left behind cover funeral costs and support his memory."

How did Matt Gawiak die?

Right after Matt fell on the ground, a team of paramedics headed to the spot to rescue him and provide necessary treatment for the time being. Though the medical staff tried their best to support him during this emergency, Matt lost his life amid the crowd at the concert. 

According to a report by The Mirror, the band paused their performance within an hour of beginning it due to the unexpected tragedy. In fact, they have taken down the YouTube livestream video recording of the concert that day. 

Matt's brother, Christopher, joined him to attend the King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard's live concert. Unfortunately, Christopher stood there helplessly and "watched his brother die right in front of him."

Following his demise, he spoke about losing his brother and the events that followed that day in a Reddit post. Calling Matt a "diehard gizzard fan, loving husband and best concert buddy," he explained:

"He dropped to the floor, and was unresponsive. Luckily, there were 2 trauma nurses in the crowd who responded quickly and started CPR while we fought off the overzealous and sent runners for paramedics to take him to the medical tent."

Elaborating on the efforts to save Matt's life, Christopher further noted,

"They fought to stabilize him for almost two hours. They could only maintain any kind of pulse with massive doses of epinephrine. They had to call in an ambulance because they ran out. For all intents and purposes, I watched my brother die right in front of me and I was powerless to do anything about it."

As per the Daily Mail, he also disclosed that Matt battled cancer in childhood and survived.