Gorillaz – The Roundhouse
Fantastic show from Damon Albarn’s Gorillaz – playing London for the first time since 2001.
Given the group has only played a handful of shows together (a few warm-up rehearsals in rural UK, plus Coachella festival last week) what was most surprising was how tight the core band was.
It probably helps that the group is anchored by Mick Jones on guitar, and Paul Simonon on bass – playing together for the first since Jones left The Clash in 1983. Seeing these two on-stage together was a dream come true – the loping bass style of Simonon unchanged and instantly recognisable from hours of bootleg Clash videos I’ve sat though.The rest of the core band consisted of an all female string section, several keyboard players, four backing singers, two drummers and a second guitarist. Albarn started the evening playing keyboards near the rear of the stage, but occasionally came forward to perform a traditional front-man role – like on ‘Last Living Soles’ played early on it the show.
For all the hype around guest appearances – the core band actually led the show through 5 songs before any of the special guests appeared; albeit Snoop Dogg did make a great cameo to open the night via a specially filmed “Welcome to Plastic Beach” video.
Bobby Womack and Most Def provided the first highlight with a blinding version of ‘Stylo’. Little Dragon's Yukimi Nagano joined to provide her Bjork-esque vocals for 'Empire Ants', she also returned less successfully in the encore to duet with Albarn on ‘To Binge’. Bootie Brown then made an appearance rapping on 'Dirty Harry'.
Surprisingly one of the best collaborations of the night was the Syrian National Orchestra, joined with UK rappers Kano and Bashy for 'White Flag'. Quite surreal to see such a mix of musical styles on stage: the traditional instruments of the orchestra duelling with the string quartet, while Kano and Bashy rapped around them; all the while Mick Jones and Simonon looked seemingly bewildered.
Best guest appearance of the night had to be De La Soul – who first joined the band, together from Gruff Rhys from Super Furry Animals – for 'Superfast Jellyfish', but nearly took the roof off The Roundhouse when they returned in the encores for ‘Feel Good Inc.’.
The most unexpected appearance was Shaun Ryder, who joined Roise Wilson for a ramshackle but crowd pleasing ‘Dare’.
After so much up-tempo material, it was surprisingly they chose to end the main set on the somber mood of ‘Cloud of Unknowing’ featuring Bobby Womack.
After briefly leaving the stage, Mos Def kicked of the encore with 'Sweepstakes'. The night ended on a fantastic high – with a thumping version of early single ‘Clint Eastwood’ that appropriately saw Albarn front and center to close the night.
Full setlist:
'Orchestra Intro'
'Welcome To The World Of The Plastic Beach'
'Last Living Souls'
'O Green World'
'On Melancholy Hill'
'Kids With Guns'
'Stylo'
'Rhinestone Eyes'
'Broken'
'Empire Ants'
'Dirty Harry'
'White Flag'
'Superfast Jellyfish'
'Dare'
'Glitter Freeze'
'El Mañana'
'Cloud Of Unknowing'
encore:
'Sweepstakes'
'To Binge'
'Feel Good Inc'
'Clint Eastwood'
Given the group has only played a handful of shows together (a few warm-up rehearsals in rural UK, plus Coachella festival last week) what was most surprising was how tight the core band was.
It probably helps that the group is anchored by Mick Jones on guitar, and Paul Simonon on bass – playing together for the first since Jones left The Clash in 1983. Seeing these two on-stage together was a dream come true – the loping bass style of Simonon unchanged and instantly recognisable from hours of bootleg Clash videos I’ve sat though.The rest of the core band consisted of an all female string section, several keyboard players, four backing singers, two drummers and a second guitarist. Albarn started the evening playing keyboards near the rear of the stage, but occasionally came forward to perform a traditional front-man role – like on ‘Last Living Soles’ played early on it the show.
For all the hype around guest appearances – the core band actually led the show through 5 songs before any of the special guests appeared; albeit Snoop Dogg did make a great cameo to open the night via a specially filmed “Welcome to Plastic Beach” video.Bobby Womack and Most Def provided the first highlight with a blinding version of ‘Stylo’. Little Dragon's Yukimi Nagano joined to provide her Bjork-esque vocals for 'Empire Ants', she also returned less successfully in the encore to duet with Albarn on ‘To Binge’. Bootie Brown then made an appearance rapping on 'Dirty Harry'.
Surprisingly one of the best collaborations of the night was the Syrian National Orchestra, joined with UK rappers Kano and Bashy for 'White Flag'. Quite surreal to see such a mix of musical styles on stage: the traditional instruments of the orchestra duelling with the string quartet, while Kano and Bashy rapped around them; all the while Mick Jones and Simonon looked seemingly bewildered.
Best guest appearance of the night had to be De La Soul – who first joined the band, together from Gruff Rhys from Super Furry Animals – for 'Superfast Jellyfish', but nearly took the roof off The Roundhouse when they returned in the encores for ‘Feel Good Inc.’.
The most unexpected appearance was Shaun Ryder, who joined Roise Wilson for a ramshackle but crowd pleasing ‘Dare’.
After so much up-tempo material, it was surprisingly they chose to end the main set on the somber mood of ‘Cloud of Unknowing’ featuring Bobby Womack.
After briefly leaving the stage, Mos Def kicked of the encore with 'Sweepstakes'. The night ended on a fantastic high – with a thumping version of early single ‘Clint Eastwood’ that appropriately saw Albarn front and center to close the night.
Full setlist:
'Orchestra Intro'
'Welcome To The World Of The Plastic Beach'
'Last Living Souls'
'O Green World'
'On Melancholy Hill'
'Kids With Guns'
'Stylo'
'Rhinestone Eyes'
'Broken'
'Empire Ants'
'Dirty Harry'
'White Flag'
'Superfast Jellyfish'
'Dare'
'Glitter Freeze'
'El Mañana'
'Cloud Of Unknowing'
encore:
'Sweepstakes'
'To Binge'
'Feel Good Inc'
'Clint Eastwood'
