Kicking off the fall concert season in style, Gorillaz brought out a highly impressive multitude of guests while showcasing incredible musicianship at its recent Inglewood, California headline performance. Musical guests throughout the evening included Schoolboy Q, Thundercat, Del The Funky Homosapien, Beck, Tame Impala, and De La Soul amongst others.
After a catchy animated beginning, lead singer Damon Albarn and his mega-talented band and back-up singers took center stage at Kia Forum. It was clear that there was something magical in the air. With a rather simple stage production and a screen showing classic Gorillaz cartoons throughout the twenty-eight song performance, the evening kicked off with oldies but goodies “M1 A1” and “Last Living Souls.”
After seven songs, Gorillaz began to bring out A-list guests. Schoolboy Q made an appearance for the debut of his collaboration with Gorillaz “Pac-Man,” featured on the 2020 Gorillaz album Song Machine. From there the excitement grew as Beck took center stage to lay down his part on “The Valley Of The Pagans” off the same album release. From there, Thundercat then emerged for his collaboration Cracker Island, the title track from the forthcoming Gorillaz album release.
Additional guest performances included DRAM on groovy Gorillaz collaboration “Andromeda.” Bootie Brown then showed up for “Dirty Harry” as did De La Soul for “Feel Good Inc.” The night ended on a high note as Beck then returned for the world premiere of his new Gorillaz Cracker Island collaboration “Possession Island” that marked the end of the main set.
The encore kicked off with Tame Impala and Bootie Brown on new Cracker Island hit single “New Gold.” Del The Funky Homosapien then joined Gorillaz for the second live performance of “Rock The House” since 2002. The show end ed with classic and fan-favorite “Clint Eastwood,” leaving fans in an absolute frenzy.
Damon Albarn and Gorillaz proved why they are still on top of the game more than twenty years after the release of Gorillaz. From incredible songwriting and dynamic visual storytelling to Damon Albarn’s rockstar antics and seemingly effortless ability play multiple instruments, it’s no wonder Gorillaz fan base has only grown with time. Cracker Island is scheduled for release on February 24th, 2023. The band’s North American tour runs through the end of this month.
