Gorillaz music review: Immersive euphoria
Glittering guest appearances elevate this great Gorillaz workout into a majestic live party
‘I always forget to thank Simple Minds when I’m in Glasgow,’ admits Damon Albarn, ringmaster of the multimedia behemoth that is Gorillaz. Out to win hearts and minds (and presumably Jim Kerr into the bargain) with their new album The Mountain, the band deliver a joyous celebration of peace, love and 25 years at the cultural pinnacle. Tonight, they scale those giddy heights again with a cornucopia of guest artists.
The cast list is formidable. OG Gorillaz alumnus Bootie Brown tears through ‘Dirty Harry’, liquefying the audience with every beat drop. Mos Def (resplendent in pearly king headwear) screws the nut even tighter on bass-face bruiser ‘Stylo’, while De La Soul’s Posdnuos helps ‘Feel Good Inc’ spark the kind of euphoria which Class As never could. Even when things simmer down, as on whistle-along single ‘Orange County’, guest vocalist Kara Jackson drags the crowd through the emotional wringer.
It’s easy to forget that immersing traditional live performance in animation felt cutting edge back in the noughties. With KPop Demon Hunters now scooping the Best Song gong at the Oscars, Gorillaz’ artistic prescience feels even more remarkable. At the first sight of their anime alter egos, younger members of the crowd go nuclear, roaring allegiance at a volume mere elder mortals would cower from.
Elsewhere, Idles frontman Joe Talbot gives full-suit stage frolics on dub workout ‘The God Of Lying’, before feisty Argentinian support act Trueno grinds the glut on Latin groover ‘The Manifesto’. And that’s just the artists here IRL. Everyone from Sparks (on recent single ‘The Happy Dictator’) to The Roots’ Black Thought (on weepie ‘The Sad God’) appear on the big screen, alongside the penetrating stare of Mark E Smith, gazing out from beyond the cosmos on ‘Delirium’. You’d give your eye teeth to be on that tour bus. The future is, indeed, coming on.
Gorillaz are on tour until Thursday 2 April; reviewed at OVO Hydro, Glasgow; picture: Kyle Mcloughlin.
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