Review by 2-J – All 5 nights

It was set up more like a theatre show than a gig, there was no support and we were “called” to our seats, not allowed to go in before, etc. Flash photography was prohibited, even for journalists it seems, so TAKE A CAMERA PHONE if you go. That’s only decent way to get pics.

The lights went down at about 9 o’clock, when the 2-D and Murdoc puppets appeared and did a sketch. It was basically them arguing, but it was funny. They looked like the 3D Brits models, almost human-size. Then, a daffy duck cartoon played on a screen on stage (daffy is a sheriff but porky becomes the hero in the end). It was an old, classic WB cartoon.

Then…

SPOILER ALERT – DETAILS FOLLOW

Basic stage setup: No “screen” in front of stage. The back of the stage had a screen at centre middle, on which film and animations were projected, as to be described. Around that were lit panels which changed color. In front of that stood the band, the strings, and 4 backing vocalists, and Damon. The band and strings and etc. had no spotlight so it was hard to see them, but when a special guest came on, they got a spotlight, so they could be seen clearly.

The music details:

Intro: A pre-recorded version was played. The stage was left dark, setting the scene.

Last Living Souls: The screen showed rotating 3-Dimensional Gorillaz band member heads. They heads were very very detailed, quite different from the Brits version.

Kids With Guns: Neneh Cherry came onstage accompanied by a spotlight She worked the crowd throughout the whole song. The screen showed gun outlines and cutaways in black, red and white. This song sounded amazing life, even harder.

O Green World: The screen showed close-ups of Gorillaz art (mostly the O Green World landfill image) plus the zombie pic used to promote the Zombie Flesh Eater Eastpack backpacks. There were shimmering effects. At least one new picture of all four band members was present.

Dirty Harry: A still picture of the Dirty Harry army helmet was shown on the screen. The Kids Choir came onstage, with a spotlight. They did some funny swaying and jumping dances, and the crowd loved it. Booty Brown was there, and he came on for his rap only, which was also really well received.

Feel Good Inc: The screen showed the Feel Good Inc single sleeve art as a still. De La Soul was there.

El Mañana: The screen featured a drawing by Jamie, which gradually appeared (Like on that art website? It unfolded as you watched). It was a black and white drawing of a girl riding a bicycle.

Every Planet We Reach Is Dead: The showed featured 3-Dimensional planets rotating in space. It also showed different flyovers of a planet, on which rested Russel’s Time Machine (as seen in his video ident). This song was storming! It had an extended outro, which was even harder than album version. Ike Turner came on at the end and did a crazy piano solo, way more out-there than the album version. He was wearing a sparkly gold jacket and gold trousers. This could have been the best collaboration of the evening.

November Has Come: Doom was not there, so the screen showed a professionally filmed clip of him doing the November Has Come rap, in his trademark Dr. Doom mask and basketball shirt.

All Alone: Both Roots and Martina Topley-Bird were present, and both gave good performances. The screen showed a still frame of the All Alone album art image, except for when it cut to the Feel Good Inc windmill moving across sky for the Martina Topley Bird portion.

White Light: The Manchester Community Choir was on stage for this song, as well as for Fire Coming Out of the Monkey’s Head, Don’t Get Lost in Heaven and Demon Days. On White Light, the choir sang ‘oooo’s during the quite bit. The screen was a film of the derelict guy from the White Light album image, going mad in London with his can of White Light energy drink (but no other people on the film, just him).

DARE: Great performance, so fun! One of biggest cheers of the night came for local boy Shaun Ryder. He was wearing his dark glasses and an Adidas leather jacket. Rosie Wilson was there and got a spot-light too. It was a really cool duet. Rosie Wilson can sing and dance really well, she could be a future star. Shaun was shambolic in a funny way, as usual. He kept forgetting one of the ‘it’s coming up’s and saying ‘it’s DARE!’ one early, but in the crowd’s eyes he could do know wrong. This was a really interesting and fun live version. The screen showed a still frame of the Kanji ‘DARE’ letters, as seen on the single formats.

Fire Coming Out of the Monkey’s Head: Dennis Hopper was not present, and his vocals were pre-recorded. However, this song featured maybe best visuals of the night. There were many, many Hewlett still-frames depicting the story of the song, with the Happy Folk portrayed as some Pokemon-like things and the Strange Folk as shadow monsters. A real treat for any Hewlett fan.

Don’t Get Lost In Heaven: The screen just showed some Gorillaz images (with the camera moving across details throughout).

Demon Days: The camera moved over details of a Gorillaz stained-glass window. It pulled back at the end of the song reveal the whole thing. It wasn’t a real window, but a photo-shopped one using existing Gorillaz images, with a stained glass effect.

At this point, the curtain went down, and lights went up on the 2-D and Murdoc puppets, who urged the audience to cheer in order to egg on an encore.

After a while, a curtain came up, and the music continued.

Hong Kong: Damon came to the front of the stage with a spotlight. He was given the biggest cheer of the night. Damon looked happy. A female Chinese strings player got a spotlight too, to handle the strings portion. The screen featured neon signs (filmed) with Chinese characters.

Latin Simone (Que Pasa Contigo?): Damon went to the back again and I think he did backing vocals. Ibrahim’s vocals were used, from the album, and the rest was live. The screen featured footage Ferrer recording the song (synced to the audio) and in studio 13, (easily recognizable). At the end, ‘Ibrahim Ferrer 1927-2005’ came up on the screen. Then curtain came down and the lights went up.

And there you have it, one hell of a show!

2ND NOVEMBER:
pretty much the same

3RD NOVEMBER
De La Soul were not there (they were in Lisbon for the EMAs, as was Jamie Hewlett). The Feel Good Inc video played on the screen instead of the still FGI cover image, during the live performance of FGI.

The Gorillaz puppets of Murdoc and 2D gave their performane just the same as tuesday and wednesday (previously Jamie had said they wouldn’t be there tonight because the Gorillaz would be in Lisbon).

DARE was played twice. This was because of, as far as I could see, SHaun Ryder’s awful performance. There is a line, between shambolically cool and just plain shambolic, and after threatening to do so the previous two nights, tonight he crossed it.

Firstly the start of DARE was held up for ages/ There was visible panic from Damon onstage. Then finally Shaun and Rosie came on. But Shaun hardly sung anything, leaving Rosie to sing most of his parts, he was all over the place, just randomly shouting ‘it’s DARE’. Damon stormed off backstage halfway through probably to tell the A/V guy to run the DARE settings again. The song broke down at the end. Then they did it again, (shaun and rosie had gone off and came back), but Shaun was not really any better. At the end all Rosie could do was hug him in tears of laughter.

4TH NOVEMBER

Ike Turner’s solo was the best so far this week. Totally crazy and piano-bashing / sitting on keys. Extended intro to EPWRID (Damon’s piano) too. DARE was back up to the standards of the first two nights.

Martina Topley Bird was wearing a dress with a train so long, Roots had to carry it onstage for her!

5TH NOVEMBER

Danger Mouse was there last night. He was sitting in the row in front of me with (I presume) his girlfriend.