both concerts started with 2d and murdoc showing up in 1 of the theatre boxes. 2d was telling murdoc how he wanted to have a tagline, and murdoc just made fun of him. murdoc told him, “i think i’d rather be having some sort of medical operation than be having this conversation with you right now.” finally murdoc couldn’t take it anymore, and he jokingly suggested that 2d use “that’s all folks,” then he whacked 2d with a skillet.

murdoc & 2d

[i must apologise for the quality of these images. they were taken with the camera on my mobile, which isn’t stellar at taking photos in a darkened theatre.]

after 2d and murdoc were done arguing, they showed “drip-along daffy,” a cartoon from 1951 featuring daffy duck and porky pig. once the cartoon was over, the curtain rose as “intro” started and we all started going nuts and clapping. “intro” was the only song that was completely prerecorded. during this song, images of 2d, noodle, murdoc and russell were shown on a giant screen above the band. throughout the gig various graphics, animations and illustrations created by jamie hewlett appeared on the screen.

next was “last living souls” during which i got goosebumps that lasted for the rest of the concert. even though i’ve briefly met damon, hearing him perform in person was absolutely incredible and mind-blowing. at 1 point he really got into the words, pratically yelling, “are we the last living souls!?” also, the strings in this song were very powerful live.

“kids with guns” was next. the song itself and the bold white and red graphics really got the crowd going. we all only became more excited when neneh cherry came onstage and started singing. she seemed really passionate and so happy to be rocking out onstage.

following was “o green world” which had really powerful imagery that seemed to be about the destruction and pollution of the planet. the imagery for this song was some of the darkest shown throughout the night.

at some point in the middle of the gig, 2d and murdoc came back out in their theatre box and dropped popcorn on the people sitting below. i was almost close enough to have popcorn rain down on me.

the 5th song was “dirty harry” which was 1 of my favourites from the concerts. the song has such a great beat; it always makes me want to dance. and while bootie brown did a great job with his rap, but the real stars of this song were the kids from the wythenshawe children’s choir. they were so energetic onstage. the kids were singing and jamming, but the best part was when a couple kids started break-dancing during the rap!

children’s choir rocking out to “dirty harry”

next was the song that helped launch demon days as an international success: “feel good inc.” on thursday night, de la soul wasn’t there, so the music video played while damon and the band performed, accompanied by de la soul’s prerecorded performance. on friday night, i wasn’t sure whether or not de la soul would show up. however, when the song started and only the cover from the single was projected onto the screen, i got my hopes up, and rightfully so. the crowd [myself included] went wild when de la soul came on the stage. despite how many times i have listened to “feel good inc.” i’m not one bit sick of it. whether i’m driving in my car or working at my desk, i still dance in my seat when that song comes on.

de la soul during “feel good inc.”

following de la soul’s dynamic performance was “el mañana,” a song that i find to be very beautiful with a hint of sadness; the lyrics and the way damon sings them really hits me. for this song the visual was a line drawing of a girl on a bike that appeared to be drawn on the screen as the song progressed.

after “el mañana” came “every planet we reach is dead.” when ike turner came out, he sort of shimmied over to his piano. it was obvious he was excited about being onstage. his solo was fantastic: it wasn’t exactly like the solo on the album, but it still worked. ike just let go and allowed his fingers to flow with the song. he even played the piano with his bum. and even though this song doesn’t make you want to hop up and dance, it still completely pulls you into the universe it creates. “every planet we reach is dead” live sounds kind of like musicians just jamming, but in a way that only extremely talented musicians can sound when they’re jamming.

ike jamming during “every planet we reach is dead”

“november has come” started with a prerecorded video of mf doom rapping since he couldn’t be at the concerts. i didn’t know anything about mf doom, so his metal mask freaked me out at 1st; only now do i know that that’s his trademark. during 1 bit of video, he was wearing semi-nerdy glasses with the mask, which i found amusing. [side note: mf doom teamed up with danger mouse, the producer of demon days, to become danger doom, putting out the album the mouse and the mask, inspired by [or created along with?] adult swim.]

next was “all alone” which included vocals from both roots manuva and martina topley-bird. i find “all alone” to be part dance, part rap, somewhat quirky, albeit fantastic with great beats. martina came onstage wearing a kimono, so she really had a strong presence, even though her singing is the most delicate part of the song.

roots rapping and martina in her kimono with her back turned during “all alone”

“white light” really changed the atmosphere with its frenetic sound and video of an apparently drunk derelict going around the city. the gospel choir sounded really nice during the calm moments in the song. during the crazier bits, it was fun to watch them jump around, going crazy-go-nuts in front of the giant flashing white lights.

one of my favourite songs from demon days—”dare”—was performed next. shaun ryder and rosie wilson [normally 1 of the backing vocalists] got the crowd really riled up during this song. the live performance didn’t seem as tight as the album version, but i think that’s because shaun is kind of a loose cannon. it kept seeming like rosie was trying to keep him on track, which was funny.

“dare” always, without a doubt makes me want to dance. as the audience, we were supposed to stay seated during the whole gig [as requested by the band, not the venue]. and i did stay seated the whole time on the 3rd because i was in the balcony and no one around me ever stood up. however, when i was so close to the stage on the 4th, the people around me and i couldn’t resist jumping up and dancing around during the song. rocking out to “dare” live, surrounded by other crazy gorillaz fans was an awesome experience.

it’s coming up… it’s dare!

unfortunately dennis hopper wasn’t there for “fire coming out of the monkey’s head.” nevertheless, his prerecorded telling of the story of the happy folk, along with live music from the band and vocals from damon, were accompanied by jamie’s cute yet dark illustrations depicting the story.

“fire coming out of the monkey’s head”

“don’t get lost in heaven” and “demon days” flowed together, just as they do on the album. while damon sung falsetto and the gospel choir blended seamlessly together, an elaborate drawing of stained glass featuring the gorillaz characters and graphics scanned across the screen, all being revealed at the end of the song.

part of the stained glass and the gospel choir

i was so sad when the last track was finished, but i knew that thankfully there would be an encore. the curtain came down, then 2d and murdoc reappeared to get us to clap and yell with all our might for the encore to begin.

the 1st song of the encore was 1 i had never heard before: “hong kong,” which was recorded for help: a day in the life, an album whose profits benefit war child international. the song starts off with a zeng zhen playing a guzheng [chinese zither]. now, i should note that damon really wanted the guest musicians to be the stars of the show, so he and the band were silhouetted in front of huge coloured lights the whole time while the guest musicians were showered with light. however, after zeng played the zither for a bit, damon surprised us all by popping out of the shadows to sing in the spotlight. that definitely put a big smile on my face, as well as everyone else in the audience. when i listened to the bbc recording of 1 of the concert, i could hear the crowd go absolutely nuts when damon stepped out of the shadows. “hong kong” seems more like a solo damon piece than a gorillaz song since it’s so different from anything else the band has put out thus far. but [i know i’m biased] damon can do whatever he wants, especially if he wants to create more incredibly beautiful songs like “hong kong.”

damon singing while zeng plays the guzheng

the gigs ended with a very nice tribute to ibrahim ferrer who passed away earlier this year. gorillaz played “latin simone” [a song from their 1st album on which ibrahim sang] while showing footage of ibrahim from when they 1st recorded the song.

video of ibrahim ferrer recording “latin simone”

despite all i’ve written, words really cannot describe how amazing the concerts were. the goosebumps i got during “last living souls” have remained well after the concerts ended.