When Gorillaz Concert Tour?
Gorillaz fans are ready for news of an impending tour.
In essence, any musical group going on tour is always an event that is keenly awaited by the hardcore fans of the group. It is every music lover’s dream to get a chance of watching their favorite band perform live and even interact with them. This is especially true for devoted followers of the virtual band Gorillaz, which was created by the British musician Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett. Their fans all over the world are eagerly waiting for the group to release another tour soon.
It was formed in 1998 by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett. If you are not familiar with Gorillaz, at first glance, it seems like a standard four-member pop/rock band. However, unlike most groups, Gorillaz’ members are animated personalities created by Hewlett and these characters are voiced by different artists at different times. The cast of the band has evolved over the years, but in its inception it was made of two vocalists 2D, Murdoc Niccals playing bass, Noodle playing the guitar and Russel Hobbs as the drummer.
In the first stages of the Gorillaz, each of the virtual band members had their characters depicted in the music videos for their songs. This added another layer of element of mystery as far as the listeners were concerned about the group known as Gorillaz. However, as the popularity of these videos increased, people wanted the band to perform live in some way. Albarn and Hewlett then countered this development by having the animated group effectively ‘perform’ during shows on projection screens while the actual musicians were concealed behind a large screen.
The first tours proved to be highly successful.
This novel kind of concert was first used in Gorillaz’ first tour in 2002 and was comprised of five performances in Great Britain. The events were quite successful and were a critical success further proving that an animated group could become mainstream. Following the success of the tour, Gorillaz went on to perform two big global tours. The Demon Days Live tour held in 2005 was aimed at popularizing the band’s second album, Demon Days, through performances in various continents. In 2010 the band toured again for the “Escape to Plastic Beach” tour in support of the record Plastic Beach.
Both tours were commercial successes, with nearly all of each tour’s dates being sold-out. They performed at lots of festivals and at such large stadia as the Madison Square Garden. Reviews also highlighted the shows’ aesthetics and Albarn’s performance as a frontman. The tours also helped in establishing the band Gorillaz in the other parts of the world apart from England. By embracing the animated gimmick in a rather unassuming and charming manner, Gorillaz garnered much adoration from fans all over the world during their early years of touring.
The company has no major tours for nearly a decade now.
Since the successful 2010-2011 Plastic Beach headliner tour, Gorillaz have not embarked on another world tour of the same magnitude. While they managed to perform at a few festival gigs in 2012, no proper tours have been conducted since that year. I believe there are a couple of possible explanations as to why Gorillaz effectively ceased live performances.
First of all, one must note that Damon Albarn, the main man of the band, has stated in numerous interviews that he usually does not like touring. It is evident that the act of touring and playing numerous shows can be rather exhausting. Although Gorillaz tours enable Albarn to perform behind an animated personality, all the touring must certainly be tiring. Moreover, tours are very costly to organize and involve many stakeholders in the process. This is even more so the case since Gorillaz shows are multimedia in nature and therefore have compounded costs. For those reasons, Gorillaz may not have embarked on tours though they have released two albums within the last decade.
Although that is not to suggest that Gorillaz has disappeared completely from the public domain in the last years. In 2017, they performed in some of the most important festivals including their own Demon Dayz Festival. Positive responses indicated that fans want to experience the band in some form of live setting. They also launched an augmented reality app experience in 2018. But none of those undertakings met the need to watch Gorillaz perform a large-scale tour for the first time in 12 years.
The Long Wait for a New Tour Goes On
Their forthcoming album Cracker Island has been rescheduled multiple times, although the new year of 2023 may well be the one when the band will release the album. As new music is at the horizon, all fans are experiencing the rise of hope for a new tour yet again. Still, Gorillaz have teased and then disappointed fans regarding tours in previous album releases. But as of now, there is no signal from Albarn or anyone from the Gorillaz that points towards new concert dates.
The anticipation has been almost painful for faithful followers. Some are here as I saw Gorillaz tour before and spent, in total thousands, on traveling and tickets. Just the idea that this virtual band would never perform again is rather painful to consider. Social media forums and fansites boast countless threads with people expressing their desire for another concert series.
Looking at the previous tours, it is very difficult to remember how amazing they were since it has been a long time already. Something as simple as scrolling through tour videos on YouTube just heightens the sting of no proper concerts in recent memory. Quadruple-screen animation visuals that are featured in the present article were something I would love to see come back. To add, Albarn has only gotten better with time every time he has the microphone as the frontman of the band.
The prospect for a 2023 tour is still alive
Despite this, there are still countless foretellers who remain optimistic that 2023 would be the year that Gorillaz release the news about the new world tour. This means that it is high time to start this initiative or else P3 will find itself out of touch with the young generation. Despite this, their stunning visual production would still feel fresh and innovative today. It’s simply a matter of whether Albarn wants to get his motivation up in order to tour again, extensively.
If no tour dates are announced again after the release of Cracker Island, it would quite natural for fans to assume that Gorillaz live performances are done for good. Maybe they only felt comfortable touring during those first two album cycles when anticipation was at its peak. However the fans are still expecting the much needed tour news this year or the next year. It has been more than a decade since their spectacular shows that were characterized by high energy and unique performances. All fans can do is wait and wish that Gorillaz will make their individual and collective wish of touring again for the phenomenal virtual band a reality.
