Gorillaz at Madison Square Garden [review]

Photo credit Ben Bentley

Gorillaz made their long-awaited return to Madison Square Garden for the first time in 16 years, a pretty astonishing long gap considering how much of a constant presence that the band has been in our lives.

Earlier this year Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett’s virtual band returned with their latest record, The Mountain, via their own label, Kong. Their tour brought them back to us here in New York City for a very sold out performance that featured opening performances from Little Simz and Deltron 3030.

Kicking off the show was the album’s title track “The Mountain” and lead single “The Happy Dictator”, before diving into a series of tracks from throughout their discography, including “Last Living Souls”, “19-200” (with Miho Hatori) and “Rhinestone Eyes.” One of the best parts of the Gorillaz live experience is seeing these songs not only with such an expansive backing band, but with the ellaborate set of guests that show up depending where the show is hold. This included Black Thought of The Roots and Asha Puthli for “The Moon Cave”, Kara Jackson for “Orange County”, and Little Simz returning for “Garage Palace.”

Photo credit Ben Bentley

This edition of the tour features a unique set of special songs for each stop, and MSG was gifted the tour debut of “Broken” with the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, and Pusha T of Clipse joining the Harlem Gospel Choir for the first performance of “Let Me Out” since 2017. One of the highlights for me was the hypnotic performance of “Don’t Get Lost in Heaven”, “Cloud of Unknowing” and the tour debut of “Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach”. While we all love getting to rock out with the classics such as “Clint Eastwood” and “feel Good Inc.” these deeper cuts were a real treat and just sounded absolutely perfect in the hollowed grounds of MSG.

Albarn remarked on how New York embodies multiculturalism during “Don’t Get Lost in Heaven”, and was in great spirits throughout the show, spending plenty of time performing to the front row, as well as emerging through the first section of the seated crowd, hugging fans dressed in his attire, and even signing autographs. He mentioned how good it was to see the city in good health, with a good mayor, and even placated us Knicks diehards with a “Knicks in 5” chant.

It was a reminder while Gorillaz have had the longevity that they have had, taking the project to something that has become one of the most reliable going in the entire game.

Gorillaz Setlist:

1. The Mountain

2. The Happy Dictator

3. Tranz

4. Last Living Souls

5. Tomorrow Comes Today

6. 19-2000

7. Rhinestone Eyes

8. The Moon Cave

9. Intro: Madam

10. On Melancholy Hill

11. Orange County

12. Casablanca

13. Delirium

14. Andromeda

15. Garage Palace

16. She’s My Collar

17. Broken

18. Stylo

19. Let Me Out

20. Kids With Guns

21. The Sad God

22. Don’t Get Lost in Heaven

23. Demon Days

Encore:

24. Cloud of Unknowing

25. Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach

26. Rock the House

27. Dirty Harry

28. Feel Good Inc.

29. Clint Eastwood