Gorillaz In The Mix’d

“Welcome to the world of the plastic beach”

We all bolt toward the stage. My heart almost skipped a beat when I heard those magical words saw Snoop Dogg's head on the screen. Sadly it was just a video for this set we were just going to have to make do with Damon Albarn, his band, an entire string section, back up singers and a F load of Cameos. Rumor has it two members from the Clash were also on stage and its safe to assume one of which was Mike Jones.

Although initially ridiculed back home in the UK Albarn’s fictional cartoon band has taken off. In the US alone the first two albums even outsold Blur’s entire catalog. This most recent album, Plastic Beach, just as amazing as his last! Its slightly less poppy but it maintains those famous reggae base line, disco beats and the measured rapping of Albarn and co.

Until now 2D, Noodle, Russle and Murdoc have all been illusive characters drawn by comic book artist Jamie Hewlett, so we had NO idea what to expect from this live performance.

On stage cameos included Bobby Womack for Stylo and earlier performers De La Soul. The set was amazing and I was blown away by how much was actually Albarn himself - this man writes, produces and sings!

The set was pretty chilled and ended without Dare or Feel Good Inc. Thankfully they did encore! After about five minutes the stage was filled again and the second song was Feel Good Inc featuring De La Soul. The crowd went off roaring ‘Ha ha ha ha ha’. Dare never got played and my only other disappointment with was that they ended on a low point. The final song was a slow number with cartoon images from Peal Harbor. Kinda heavy and not exactly the note to close Coachella on. Nevertheless Gorillaz were above and beyond anything I ever expected. My personal favorite – Superfast Jellyfish. 

 

 

PHOTOS AND POST BY REEBAJEEB