Gorillaz Live was the first concert tour by the British

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

virtual band In entertainment, a virtual band (also called a virtual idol, virtual singer, virtual group, virtual artists, cartoon group, cartoon idol, cartoon singer or cartoon band) is a band or music group whose depicted members are not people, but animate ...

Gorillaz Gorillaz are an English virtual band created by musician Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett in London, England in 1998. The band primarily consists of four fictional members: (vocals, keyboards), Murdoc Niccals (bass guitar), Noodle (gui ...

, in support of their self-titled debut album.

Personnel

Damon Albarn Damon Albarn (, ; born 23 March 1968) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the frontman, main vocalist, and lyricist of the rock band Blur (band), Blur and the co-creator and primary musical con ...

– lead vocals, keyboards, rhythm guitar, piano, acoustic guitar,

melodica The melodica is a handheld free-reed instrument similar to a pump organ or harmonica. It features a musical keyboard on top, and is played by blowing air through a mouthpiece that fits into a hole in the side of the instrument. The keyboard usu ...

*Junior Dan – bass guitar *

Roberto Occhipinti Roberto Occhipinti (born March 25, 1955) is a Canadian jazz bassist and composer.James Hale"Roberto Occhipinti" ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'', April 9, 2007. He is most noted as a two-time Juno Award nominee for Contemporary Jazz Album of the Yea ...

– bass guitar (only during North American tour, replacing Junior Dan) *

Simon Katz Simon Katz (born 16 May 1971) is an English songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, best known for his work with the band Jamiroquai from 1995 to 2000. Katz has been nominated for 2 Grammy Awards and was a recipient of the Grammy Award for Best P ...

– lead guitar *

Cass Browne Cass Browne (born 27 September 1971 in Wimbledon, Surrey) is an English musician and writer. He was a member of the band The Psychotics who became Senseless Things in 1986. Senseless Things made four studio albums, achieved two UK Top 20 hi ...

– drums, percussion, drum machine * Mike Smith – keyboards * Darren Galea "DJ D-Zire" – turntables *

Phi Life Cypher Phi Life Cypher were a British hip hop group based in Luton, composed of two MCs, Si Phili and Life MC, and DJ Nappa. The trio started making music together around 1996, and since have had much success on the UK underground circuit. Phi-Life C ...

– vocals on "

Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western (genre), Western TV series ''Rawhide (TV series), Rawhide'', Eastwood rose to international fame with his role as the "Ma ...

" and " Rock the House" (Non-North American tour dates) * Jamal Gray – vocals on "Clint Eastwood" and "Rock the House" (only during North American tour) *

D12 D12 (an initialism for the Dirty Dozen) was an American hip hop group from Detroit, Michigan. Formed in 1996, the group achieved mainstream success with its lineup of ''de facto'' leader Eminem, Proof, Bizarre, Kon Artis, Kuniva and Swifty McV ...

– vocals on "

911 911, 9/11 or Nine Eleven may refer to: Dates * AD 911 * 911 BC * September 11 ** The 2001 September 11 attacks on the United States by al-Qaeda, commonly referred to as 9/11 ** 11 de Septiembre, Chilean coup d'état in 1973 that ousted the ...

" (New York City only) *

Sweetie Irie Dean Bent (born January 1971), better known as Sweetie Irie, is a British reggae Singing, singer and Disc jockey#Dancehall/reggae deejays, deejay. Early life ''Sweetie Irie'' began working on local sound systems as a teenager. Career He ga ...

– vocals on "Clint Eastwood (Ed Case Refix)" *

Haruka Kuroda is a Japanese actress and presenter. She provided the voice of Noodle from Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett's alternative rock virtual band Gorillaz from 2000 to 2017. She performed on all the Phase One tour dates as Noodle: She performed Noodle' ...

– backing vocals, speaking voice of

Noodle Noodles are a type of food made from unleavened dough which is either rolled flat and cut, stretched, or extruded, into long strips or strings. Noodles are a staple food in many cultures and made into a variety of shapes. The most common noo ...

(miming playing the second guitar to look like Noodle with the helmet; intermissions) * Remi Kabaka Jr. – speaking voice of

Russel Russel is an alternate spelling of Russell. Russel may also refer to: People with the given name *Russel Arnold (born 1973), Sri Lankan cricketer *Russel Crouse (1893–1966), American playwright *Russel Farnham (1784–1832), American front ...

(intermissions) *

Phil Cornwell Philip Cornwell is an English actor, comedian, impressionist and writer. He is part of the '' Dead Ringers'' television and radio series, and is the voice of Murdoc Niccals in the virtual band Gorillaz. Cornwell has co-written and performed pri ...

– speaking voice of

Murdoc Murdoc is a fictional character that appears in the ABC television series ''MacGyver'' and in the CBS reboot series of the same name. In both portrayals, Murdoc is an assassin and frequent antagonist of both series. Original series Murdoc ...

(intermissions) *Nelson De Freitas – speaking voice of

2-D 2D or 2-D may refer to: Related to two dimensions * Two-dimensional space * Two-dimensional Euclidean space * 2D geometric model * 2D computer graphics * 2D animation, or traditional animation * Two-dimensional correlation analysis Other uses ...

(intermissions)

Opening acts

Dan Nakamura (select dates)

Visuals and production

The logistics of an animated band going on tour proved problematic, with

Jamie Hewlett Jamie Christopher Hewlett (born 3 April 1968) is a British comic book artist and illustrator. He is the co-creator of the comic book ''Tank Girl'' with Alan Martin (writer), Alan Martin and the virtual band Gorillaz, alongside Blur (band), Blur ...

saying in a mid-2001 interview: "We've come to realize that we've come up with something that's a bit ahead of its time and the technology doesn't exist to do everything we want to do, so the live show was something we had to really think hard about." As a compromise between having a live and virtual stage presence, the band's musicians played behind a giant cinema screen, which projected music videos and visuals to the crowd. Lead singer Damon Albarn later expressed discomfort at this setup, confessing that he "was frustrated" behind the screen. Later still, Albarn called the screens "obtuse", believing the human element of the band necessitated a change. In a 2010 interview, Albarn voiced distaste at the concept of hiding collaborators behind a screen on the then-upcoming

Escape to Plastic Beach Tour The Escape to Plastic Beach Tour was a concert tour by the British alternative rock virtual band Gorillaz in support of their third studio album ''Plastic Beach''. During the tour, Damon Albarn recorded '' The Fall'', described by Albarn as a " ...

: "I couldn't entertain the idea of putting Lou Reed or Bobby Womack behind a screen. I'm not that daft." Gorillaz Live was ultimately the only tour to have the musicians silhouetted behind a screen. The voice actors of the virtual band toured alongside the real band, speaking to the crowd and each other in-between songs. However, according to Haruka Kuroda, budgeting issues prevented most of the voice actors from participating in the concert's international legs; Kuroda was the only voice actor to tour with the band beyond Europe.

Set list

The following setlist is obtained from the concert held in London on 22 March 2001. # "M1 A1" # "

Tomorrow Comes Today "Tomorrow Comes Today" is a song from British virtual band Gorillaz's self-titled debut album ''Gorillaz'' and was their first release when issued as an EP in November 2000. The first three songs from the EP ended up on their debut album, how ...

" # "Slow Country" # " 5/4" # "Starshine" # "Man Research (Clapper)" # "Sound Check (Gravity)" # "Latin Simone (¿Qué Pasa Contigo?)" # "Re-Hash" # "

" (featuring

) # " Rock the House" (featuring Phi Life Cypher) # "Dracula" # "

19-2000 "19-2000", sometimes written "19/2000" and also known as "Get the Cool Shoeshine", is a song from British virtual band Gorillaz' self-titled debut album ''Gorillaz''. It was the second single from the album, released on 25 June 2001 in the Un ...

" # "Punk" ;Encore #

"Clint Eastwood" (featuring

)

Tour dates

Notes

References

{{Gorillaz Gorillaz concert tours 2001 concert tours 2002 concert tours