Gorillaz, The O2, 4th December 2017
Gorillaz, the most successful virtual reality band ever and the love child of Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett, took to the stage on 4th December 2017, the first show of their ‘Coming Home Gigs.” Damon Albarn took his place as the leader, even the conductor of the gig, dancing around, singing, and playing various instruments, at all times in remained in control but was still able to let loose and enjoy the performance he was putting on.
The gig focused a lot more on the musicians playing rather than the Gorillaz themselves, with the only real attention drawn to Murdoch, 2-D, Noodle and Russell being on the LED screen that covered the entire back of the stage, but playing together on stage were some truly incredible and talented musicians and this was their rightful moment to shine.
Alongside the 7 musicians (including Damon), and the choir that remained on stage throughout the gig, other featured artists joined the band for a song or two. However, due to there being no announcement or a real indication of when somebody had joined the stage, for those not at the front it was at times hard to pick up on this.
“I thought Noel Gallagher was meant to be playing?” one girl was heard saying to her friend during the opening of ‘We Got The Power.’ “He’s onstage!” replied her friend, who then picked her up so she could see the stage over the crowd.
During the early summer, Gorillaz played an intimate show at O2 Academy Brixton, and it wasn’t hard to pick up on the similarities between each show. It’s to be expected of course that a touring band won’t change their set list much, however what was down-heartening to see (or not see), was that no changes had been made to the stage or set design to adapt the show to a much bigger venue, meaning for those, not at the front, it was pretty hard to see what was going on, limited the bands attempt to create a real atmosphere that captured the entire
audience.
Throughout the first half of the set, the audience more or less remained calm, especially during lesser-known or more relaxed songs, but could be seen happily swaying to an old fan favourite Melancholy Hill, but then Ascension hit. Vince Staples was exactly what was needed to awaken the audience and bring some energy into that Monday night. He and Damon pulsated around the stage, with the fans screaming back the lyrics. Vince finished the song and swaggered off stage, knowing that he had done his job, and from that point onwards the vibes in the room only went up, with the audience going crazy for songs such as Dare, Dirty Harry, We Got The Power and Clint Eastwood.
If you say you don’t like the Gorillaz then you must not have found the right song, with each track varying in genre, style and also the artist playing on this. The gig was a showcase of some real talent, cleverly and impressively put together by Damon Albarn. Although more focus could have been put on playing to the entire audience, rather than just focusing on those at the front, (even just putting a runway on the stage would have made a huge difference), it was still an amazing show and one that won’t be forgotten quickly.