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Gorillaz live at the Opera House,
Manchester
1
November 2005
Reviewed by
The Guardian
Last
Friday, the Today programme offered a surprise treat for fans of Damon
Albarn's ever-changing accent. Long-term aficionados are used to the
Blur frontman's erratic lurches from middle-class Essex to
strike-a-bloomin-light gorblimey, but here he was, announcing a series
of live shows in Manchester by his cartoon side-project Gorillaz, and
sounding like he'd been invented by Evelyn Waugh.
Perhaps
the company of Edward Stourton and James Naughtie had brought on an
attack of received pronunciation. Or perhaps nerves had caused Albarn to
forget to be a cockney.
You
could certainly see why he might be anxious. In recent years, he has
revealed himself as the kind of brilliant polymath long thought extinct
in pop, apparently capable of turning his hand to any genre with
staggering success: Britpop, alt-rock, reggae, hip hop, world music.
Gorillaz's Manchester shows are ambitious: a complete performance of
their chart-topping second album Demon Days. 80 musicians, guest
appearances by everyone from Ike Turner to rappers De La Soul, and -
most intriguingly - animation that would apparently bring the four
cartoon members of Gorillaz to life onstage.
This was
clearly that rarest of rock phenomena, a Big Live Presentation. Rare
because Big Live Presentations have a tendency to capsize, taking all
hands down with them. "A technical, logistical nightmare," admitted
Albarn, plummily, but that is only the half of it. The show involves the
Happy Mondays' Sean Ryder, vocalist on Gorillaz' recent number one
single D.A.R.E, a man whose excesses seem to have left him in a
permanent state of befuddlement.
The show
begins with a comedy routine from life-size puppets of the band members
and a Daffy Duck cartoon. The safety curtain lifts to reveal Albarn and
band silhouetted against vast panels. The animations is slightly
disappointing - not the futuristic 3D images the publicity suggested but
straightforward cartoons from Albarn's collaborator Jamie Hewlet.
Everything else seems to work smoothly. The sound is fantastic and
certain moments are magical: Ike Turner hammering at his piano, children
doing synchronised dance moves to Dirty Harry, the glorious gospel
choir-led finale, the closing footage of recently deceased Gorillaz
contributor Ibrahim Ferrer.
Even
Sean Ryder manages to behave himself, beyond a few lewd pelvic thrusts
as he leaves. The show doesn't so much re-invent the album as underline
what a remarkable piece of work it is, a kaleidoscope of disparate
musical influences held together by a very singular vision.
Apparently, Albarn's next project may involve the music of the
indigenous people of southern China. You wouldn't bet on it being
anything other than a triumph.
(5/5)
Alex
Petridis
Live images from
Demon Days Live DVD
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