Gorillaz

This is the best part

"I don't know the guy…but he knows this is a song he loves," he claimed, although he admitted that he had never met Albarn and had not realised the Blur man was behind Gorillaz until recently."

:? :roll:

Gorillaz touring band:

Mike Smith - Keyboards
Jesse Hackett - Keyboards
Paul Simonon - Bass
Cass Browne - Drums
Damon Albarn - Guitar, Piano, Vocals
Gabriel Wallace - Drums
Geoff Wotton - Guitar
Mick Jones - Rhythm Guitar


Not bad, you got two ex-Clash members in your band!

This is the first album I have purchased by Gorillaz and I say indeed it is good. My brother always had an appreciation for Gorillaz so I gave it to him for a bit to listen to and he likes it. Tonight I get it back.

Live stream of their show tonight (in london)

http://gorillaz.com/

9pm GMT, which I think is 1pm PST for me.

Yeah, i think they are beyond it as far as a live show goes. Marketing wise, I think they stay with the virtual band.

According to this article here:

http://www.pollstar.com/blogs/news/arch ... 20723.aspx

It was too difficult to pull of live.

pearl spam wrote:

i would love to catch this band live! i bet they are very good live

In about 20 minutes, they'll be streaming live here:

http://gorillaz.com/

But yeah, I'm hoping for a U.S. tour.

I was at the show last night ... it was awesome! ... hopefully the footage tonight does the venue justice.

You could see the band but there was a huge screen above/behind them.

Loads of the singers were there incl. Shaun Ryder, De La Soul and Mos Def but Snoop was on the screen at the beginning for Welcome to ...

... and Mick Jones always looks like he is having the best time ever

The most dancing I#ve ever done at a show

A review from the gig I was at which pretty much sums it up http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/musi ... eview.html

"When Gorillaz last played a gig in London back in 2001, it was to a certain amount of collective head-scratching. It wasn’t just the fact that with Blur seemingly in decline, Damon Albarn had chosen to channel his abundant talents into the creation of a fictional cartoon fourpiece, sketched by his friend the comic artist Jamie Hewlett and featuring a demonically-possesed drummer called Russel.

It was also the nature of the live show. To resolve the knotty issue of how to put on a performance by a fictional band, Albarn and his band had decided to play at the back of the stage behind a screen bombarded with footage of the cartoon group. The most that was seen of the real musicians were shadows bobbing blurrily at the back of the stage. If it was all a post modern joke it didn’t feel like a terribly good one.

But what a difference a decade makes. The band that arose out of a bit of questionable rock star whimsy have gone on to become one of the biggest acts in the world, selling more than 12 million records internationally. And if their early gigs appeared half-baked, Thursday night’s performance – their first proper concert in Britain since they performed for five nights at the Manchester International Festival in 2005 – was extraordinary, an ambitious and brilliantly conceived show that thrummed with wit, energy and a seemingly boundless sense of possibility.

It began with a mere 19 people on stage, a string section, a choral group, and Mick Jones and Paul Simonon of The Clash among them. By the time of White Flag, an unlikely fusion of grime and middle eastern classical music, the number had risen to more than 30, with London MCs Kano and Bashy leaping around while players from the Syrian National Orchestra for Arabic Music provided a puckish accompaniment of flute and strings.

That may have been the night’s most unusual cross-genre hook-up, but it was by no means the only one. Albarn traded verses with soul legend Bobby Womack on the pulsing electropop of Stylo, Super Furry Animals frontman Gruff Rhys duelled with rappers De La Soul on Superfast Jellyfish, and throughout the night there was a succession of cult musical figures queueing up to perform. Best by a whisker was Shaun Ryder who slouched onstage to supply ramshackle vocals on the 2005 Number 1 Dare.

Cynics may carp that the success of Gorillaz albums – and in particular, their latest Plastic Beach - owe as much to Albarn’s contacts book as to his songwriting skills. But it’s the ingenuity with which he manages these collaborations which allows them to take flight, the legacy of the dizzying array of projects – from Chinese opera to Malian pop - he has undertaken over the past ten years. No matter how starry his co-conspirators it was Albarn who was the most magnetic presence, prowling around the stage to spur on the other musicians, or stomping his feet at the piano, not so much tickling the ivories as bashing the hell out of them.

Hewlett’s visuals took a back seat. Witty cartoon collages and short films were broadcast on a giant screen above the performers heads but you didn’t really want to take your eyes off the musicians. This gig may been performed under the auspices of the fictional 2d band whose images popped up on the screen occasionally, but it was down on the stage, that it came thrillingly to life. "

My son's very first favorite song ever was Song 2 when he was about 9 months old and able to "get into" music, as much as 9 month olds can And he's loved the Gorillaz for years (and no I didn't quite know all the lyrics until a few years back). Anyhow, he's 15 now and they're finally playing Boston and we'd all like to see them. He still seems to want to go (if you're a parent you know what I mean when I say "seems to"..."um yeah, I'll go...", like if you don't get tickets they won't be irate!) so I have two questions-->

1--Is it worth it to see them without all the "special effects"? I watched a couple of the Coachella clips and I wasn't that impressed.
2--If we do go, where is the optimal viewing area? Up close, far back, far back in the middle...I'm assuming side views are out due to the screen so I'm really looking at the benefits of being close to the stage. Is it worth an extra $200 for the 3 of us?

Saw them in Madison Square Garden the other night. Amazing show.

Lou Reed was there!