Gorillaz have been pulling out all of the stops for the tour of their latest album, ‘The Now Now.’ Rolling into Boston there were high expectations after the group delivered a stacked show in NYC the night before.
As a first time attendee of their concerts I had high expectations but no inkling of how that would take shape. While frontman Damon Albarn is the only consistent member of Gorillaz, he readily spotlights the other musicians who share the stage with him and those who contribute their talents to his virtual band’s music. We got cameos from artists on their respective tracks, including Popcaan’s looming vocals on ‘Saturnz Barz’ and De La Soul’s incredibly energetic guest appearance for ‘Feel Good, Inc.’, as well as the spotlighting of various band members and guest vocalists. Yukimi Nagano, the vocalist of opening band Little Dragon, guested on their collaborative track from 2010, ‘To Binge,’ allowing the audience to dwell in nostalgia and the introspection that is sprinkled throughout the rest of Gorillaz’s set, coming up again on 2000’s ‘Tomorrow Comes Today’ and cult classic ‘El Manana,’off of their self-titled album, displaying the song’s music video, flashing red lights, and an ever present helicopter on a separate, circular screen hovering above the chaos ensuing.
TD Garden is used to hosting some of the biggest acts in music and their elaborate staging, but Gorillaz’s staging boasted a massive setup. Albarn was flanked by six backup vocalists, two drummers, a synth player, guitarist, bassist, and organist as the band’s primary live lineup. Instrumentalists were overflowing from the stage but managed to produce a tight and sometimes intentionally sparse set. Their performances are notoriously visual spectacles – the always spunky cartoon band members fight for their right to start shit on a whim while Albarn and his fellow musicians are in competition for your attention with their musical mastery. It’s a constant divide of attention that results in you winning, no matter what choice you make.
There is an entire range of emotions packed into Gorillaz’s expansive back-catalogue that they use to their full advantage. While some of the slower songs send you off into a world of self-doubt and introspection, there are equally evocative sentiments from their ever-so-slightly manic selections. This was fully displayed by the set being capped off with an unparalleled groove party set to ‘Clint Eastwood’ and the never-ending lushness of ‘Demon Days,’ allowing the night to end on a hip swinging high and soul soothing lull that had Boston experiencing a brief but blissful reprieve into Gorillaz’s fantastical world.
See below for photos from the show: