Concert Recap: Gorillaz At The Gibson Amphitheatre

On Wednesday, I was lucky enough to go see the Gorillaz at the Universal’s Gibson Amphitheatre. I’ve never seen an animated rock band, so I wasn’t really sure what to expect. But Damon Albarn and friends impressed me on every level.

The show focused mainly on songs from the newest album Plastic Beach, but all the earlier classics were there as well. Great music combined with the best seats I have ever had at a concert (I love working for KROQ!) made for a pretty amazing night.

I got the tickets for my little brother, since the Gorillaz is his favorite band and he’d never really been to a rock concert before (and because I’m the greatest sister ever). He knew all of the songs but I was definitely a more objective observer. But ever since the show I can’t stop listening to Plastic Beach!

N.E.R.D. opened up the night with a song called “I Wanna Jam.” The place was pretty empty when they started, but they did a good job of getting everyone excited for the night. They played for around an hour, and while it wasn’t really my style, they did put on a good show and had some pretty inspiring stuff to say.

Finally the Gorillaz were about to come onstage. The whole set started out with a video of the computer-animated band members locked backstage, waiting to perform. Then the huge ensemble that is the current Gorillaz made its way onstage and started playing “Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach,” the new album’s opening track, playing a video on the big screen with Snoop Dogg singing his part of the song. At this point, right when things were getting started, a woman came to our aisle, asking me where seats 6 & 7 were. After a few seconds I realized it was Michelle Rodriguez (from Lost and Avatar,) and as a Lost fan, it completely distracted me from the beginning of the show.

It was so cool to see the parallel between the characters in the music videos and the actual guys who are making the music. I thought the real thing could be a letdown, but that was before I laid eyes on Damon Albarn… He is my new favorite person, hands down. He looked like he was having such a good time, which translated to all the people in the now-packed amphitheatre, and his eyes were just intense and arresting. He was so exciting to watch, whether he was jumping around the stage, screaming the lyrics into a bandmate’s face, singing a duet with one of the night’s many guest stars or looking like Jesus staring divinely up into the air.

Throughout all the songs there was video playing, a few official past Gorillaz music videos, some storyboards with sketches made exclusively for the tour, and some purely of actual people. It actually surprised me how little the characters 2D, Murdoc and Noodle were incorporated with what was going on on the stage. It was really all about Damon and his partners-in-crime, Mick Jones (guitar) and Paul Simonon (bass,) both members of The Clash.  Then there was a female strings section and male brass section that provided the music with its orchestral quality.

There were guest singers running on and off the stage all night – Bobby Womack for the first single off Plastic Beach, “Stylo,” and also the first song of the night’s encore, “Cloud of Unknowing.” De La Soul came onstage to sing “Superfast Jellyfish” a song about food which I find hilarious. Yukimi Nagano of Little Dragon was a notable presence on the last album, and sang two songs that night – “Empire Ants,” an eery, ambient song, and “To Binge,” my personal favorite, because it’s such a sweet and uncharacteristically romantic song for the band.

Rapper Bootie Brown performed during “Dirty Harry,” while a hypnotically weird video of cartoon little kids played in the background.  “White Flag” featured rappers Kano and Bashy, as well as the Middle Eastern music of The Lebanese National Orchestra for Oriental Arabic Music. Damon brought a huge white flag onstage during the song and gave it to a guy in the audience to run around the aisles with. Rosie Wilson sang the hit single “DARE,” and as a special treat, Lou Reed was there to sing his song from the new album, “Some Kind of Nature.” He didn’t sing for very long, but he played a short guitar solo as well, and it was just cool to see him in person. The band also played its newest single, which just came out this month, “Doncamatic,” with the rising British singer Daley.

The highlight of the night for me actually surprised me. It was when the band played “Glitter Freeze,” a song off Plastic Beach which has practically no lyrics at all. It never really stood out to me when I listened to the album, but live, it completely blew me away. Each key the melody went up just made it that much more intense until I felt like I was about to explode.

After “Plastic Beach,” the band left the stage but they were back soon for an encore, which was incredible. After the solemn “Cloud of Unknowing,” they went into “Feel Good Inc.” starting with De La Soul creeping up on Damon and doing that infamous laugh, at which point everyone in the crowd, including me, went crazy.

They pulled out all the stops, because right after that, Damon went to the edge of the stage with a melodica and started playing the riff from “Clint Eastwood.” Kano and Bashy did the rap part on this song, instead of Del tha Funkee Homosapien who did the original, but they did a good job.

After that, the band started toning down, finishing out the night with “Don’t Get Lost in Heaven” and “Demon Days.” At that point the band left the stage, but Murdoc got the final word as one last short video played when people were starting to file out of the venue.

Overall, it was a spectacular concert, and seemed like it was over much too soon. I’m so glad I got to be a part of the Gorillaz first world tour, and it has given me a ton of respect and appreciation for this completely unique band.

SETLIST:

Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach
Last Living Souls
19-2000
Stylo
On Melancholy Hill
Rhinestone Eyes
Superfast Jellyfish
Tomorrow Comes Today
Empire Ants
Some Kind of Nature
Broken
Dirty Harry
Doncamatic
El Manana
White Flag
To Binge
DARE
Glitter Freeze
Plastic Beach

ENCORE:
Cloud of Unknowing
Feel Good Inc.
Clint Eastwood
Don’t Get Lost in Heaven
Demon Days