The end of the year is near, no doubt 2020 was extremely particular, concerts paused, music festivals cancelled, and lockdown due to COVID-19 became the new normal. With all this time at home the bands tried to keep up by doing live streams; nevertheless, the virtual band per excellence Gorillaz announced 3 shows supporting their new album “Song Machine”. I just watched show 2 for the Americas and once again the feeling, the sensation and brilliance of a concert draw a smile on my face just because the emotion involved while watching a band perform live is something unexplainable and beautiful.
On a night full of surprises, Robert Smith from The Cure appeared on scene; when I heard “Strange Timez” for the first time the intro seemed to me as a “dark” version of the piano that can be heard on The Cure´s song “Caterpillar”, it´s amazing to me how Robert Smith voice is still the same, the years keep cumulating but his voice stood the test of time. I would have never thought that Gorillaz would make a collaboration with him but watching perform these two British music icons let my world spinning around at night; trust me it is still!
Another guest of the night was Beck, but in this case was Beck´s hologram with the song “The Valley Of The Pagans” it was so much fun to see Damon walking the stage and Beck changing spots, like teletransportation. This technique was seen as well on the song “Désolé” ft. Fatoumata Diawara where Damon showed his French skills with lyrics such as “C´est une long file d´attente, Désolé, Tous mes phantoms sans Bleu”. Would have been great to watch Elton John and Damon perform together “The Pink Phantom” but at least we got the recording of Sir Elton and the music video on the big screen while Damon was making us cry, playing the piano remembering losing someone´s love while singing “ I tried to say I love you, But you didn´t listen”.
The special guests continued making its appearance to perform live with the Gorillaz; Peter Hook once member of Joy Division and New Order played the bass in the song “Aries” joined by Georgia on the percussions. Note aside, If you haven´t heard Georgia´s “About Work The Dancefloor” I highly recommend it to you. Another energetic guest performance on the show was “Momentary Bliss” ft. Slaves & slowthai where you could see them jumping and enjoying themselves next to Damon, where the happiness brought to the audience wasn´t temporary; I believe was one of the best performances of the night.
There wasn´t an encore as usually happens in live shows, but they changed from being in the main stage to a cozy room decorated with a Christmas tree and some low lights to perform “Dracula” from their very first album, “Don´t Get Lost In Heaven” and “Last Living Souls” from Demon Days, record which turned 15 years on this 2020. Of course the self titled song from that album was elegantly performed on that intimate environment where once again the chorus gives a magical touch to the song.
The show was not over yet; Damon was still sitting when he showed to the camera his Omnichord and mentioned that after he bought it, he touched a button and the initial rhythm of the famous “Clint Eastwood” started to sound giving the impression that he was going to do a solo performance; but for our amusement after a few moments was played the fast version with Sweetie Irie; too cool to watch!
Gorillaz is such a creative and special band, the man behind the project, Damon Albarn has had the ability to involve several guest along the entire discography, giving a fresh sound to it. But in specific this Song Machine Livestream was once again a demonstration that even on pandemic times the four animated members 2-D, Murdoc, Noodle and Russel together with the master mind of Albarn will find a way to come to us, even If they need to build a timeless song machine.