Gorillaz hit Melbourne on their Escape To Plastic Beach world tour last night with one of the world’s most unique and energetic shows.
Like most musical conventions, the old show business adage “Never open with a show-stopper” was ignored. The band gradually entered the stage to the ‘Orchestral Intro’ from the album ‘Plastic Beach’ before launching into a spectacular version of ‘Welcome To The World Of The Plastic Beach’ featuring a classically dressed Admiral Snoop Dogg on the screen.
This incredible opening did nothing to sour the rest of the show, with the incredible band - featuring Mick Jones and Paul Simonon of The Clash - whipping the 11,000 audience members into a frenzy, right to the back row of the arena.
Bobby Womack might not be remembered like other soul icons, but his performance on ‘Stylo’ showed his power (while footage of Bruce Willis shooting at the animated ogres of the fictional version of the band played on the big screen), while the softer ‘Cloud Of Unknowing’ showed he still has soul.
Support acts De La Soul and Little Dragon both played a part in the main show, with De La Soul taking over the stage for ‘Superfast Jellyfish’ and ‘Feel Good Inc’ (the latter’s opening and closing laughter was taken care of by De La DJ Maseo, as it was on the original recording) while Little Dragon singer Yukimi Nagano performed ‘Empire Ants’ and ‘To Binge’.
Band leader Damon Albarn was happy to let each band member take centre stage at different points, but occasionally he would take the spotlight and be the boyish front man he was throughout the 90s with Blur, particularly in ‘Punk’ and the band’s first single ‘Clint Eastwood’.
As if all of these guests weren’t enough, the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, Rosie Wilson, British rappers Bashy and Kano and one-time Pharcyde member Bootie Brown were all on hand to make sure this show had something new assaulting your senses, while Shaun Ryder made an appearance on the big screen, much like Snoop Dogg and Bruce Willis had earlier in the show.
Albarn took a moment to thank everyone that made the tour possible and he sounded genuinely thankful. He knows as well as anyone that the chances of this many iconic musicians from so many different backgrounds coming together to create an entirely new sound that isn’t rubbish are practically zero. The fact that this tour even happened is a miracle, the fact that it just so happened to be one of the highlights of my gig going life is testament to the talents of everyone on the stage.
On a side note, after having been to more gigs at Rod Laver Arena than I can count, I can’t ever remember seeing every single person from the guy in the back row in the corner, to my orange haired companion, right down to the kids at the front who had been lining up all day jumping, singing, dancing, screaming and generally getting into it.
Forget U2, Gorillaz was the tour of 2010.
The set list was:
Orchestral Intro (from ‘Plastic Beach’, 2010)
Welcome To The World Of The Plastic Beach (from ‘Plastic Beach’, 2010)
Last Living Souls (from ‘Demon Days’, 2005)
19-2000 (feat. Rosie Wilson) (from ‘Gorillaz’, 2001)
Stylo (feat. Bobby Womack) (from ‘Plastic Beach’, 2010)
On Melancholy Hill (from ‘Plastic Beach’, 2010)
Rhinestone Eyes (from ‘Plastic Beach’, 2010)
Superfast Jellyfish (feat. De La Soul) (from ‘Plastic Beach’, 2010)
Tomorrow Comes Today (from ‘Gorillaz’, 2001)
Empire Ants (feat. Yukimi Nagano of Little Dragon) (from ‘Plastic Beach’, 2010)
Broken (feat. Hypnotic Brass Ensemble) (from ‘Plastic Beach’, 2010)
Dirty Harry (feat. Bootie Brown of Pharcyde) (from ‘Demon Days’, 2005)
El Mañana (from ‘Demon Days’, 2005)
White Flag (feat. Bashy and Kano) (from ‘Plastic Beach’, 2010)
To Binge (feat. Yukimi Nagano of Little Dragon) (from ‘Plastic Beach’, 2010)
Dare (feat. Rosie Wilson) (from ‘Demon Days’, 2005)
Glitter Freeze (from ‘Plastic Beach’, 2010)
Punk (from ‘Gorillaz’, 2001)
Plastic Beach (from ‘Plastic Beach’, 2010)
Cloud of Unknowing (feat. Bobby Womack) (from ‘Plastic Beach’, 2010)
Feel Good Inc. (feat. De La Soul) (from ‘Demon Days’, 2005)
Clint Eastwood (feat. Bashy and Kano) (from ‘Gorillaz’, 2001)
Don’t Get Lost In Heaven (from ‘Demon Days’, 2005)
Demon Days (from ‘Demon Days’, 2005)
The band only have three shows left on their world tour, so if you live in Sydney, Brisbane or Auckland, do not miss them. Dates are:
DECEMBER
16 - Entertainment Centre, Sydney, NSW
19 - Entertainment Centre, Brisbane, QLD
21 - Vector Arena, Auckland, NZ
PHOTOGALLERY: Ros O'Gorman photos of Gorillaz in concert last Saturday ay Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne
Follow the author Tim Cashmere on Twitter.
Check out Undercover’s interview with Engelbert Humperdinck, where he discusses how the Gorillaz/Humperdinck collaboration fell through:
