{"id":33830,"date":"2022-10-17T22:31:53","date_gmt":"2022-10-18T02:31:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/?p=33830"},"modified":"2022-10-17T22:33:15","modified_gmt":"2022-10-18T02:33:15","slug":"review-gorillaz-td-garden-10-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/2022\/10\/17\/review-gorillaz-td-garden-10-11\/","title":{"rendered":"REVIEW: GORILLAZ @ TD GARDEN 10\/11"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Review by Shandra Back<\/span><\/div>\n
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\u201cThe first place I ever played in America was in Boston,\u201d exclaimed Damon Albarn, <\/span>co-creator and lead singer of the virtual band, Gorillaz. \u201cThe police shut us down <\/span>because we were enjoying ourselves too much.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n

While the police did not shut down this show at TD-Garden on October 11, the crowd <\/span>certainly enjoyed themselves in the whirlwind two hours of head-banging, belting, and <\/span>bubblegum angst.<\/span><\/div>\n

The crowd held a collective breath in the hour-long intermission between the opener <\/span>EarthGang and the long-awaited Gorillaz. The epitome of an English Rock singer, <\/span>Albarn came strolling into the wings to take a long cigarette puff before the rest of his <\/span>posse buzzed out behind him. With his bubblegum backups in tow, Albarn strolled right <\/span>up to center stage amidst the static screens and held up his arms as an invitation to the <\/span>crowd to let out their long awaited breath.<\/span><\/div>\n

Each song displayed a mushroom trip of graphics to accompany the music videos <\/span>playing behind the band. As a virtual band, Gorillaz has always gotten creative with how <\/span>they perform live. In the 2022 North America Fall Tour, Alban and his band were <\/span>reflected on the scenes behind them. This gave fans a live show while in the presence <\/span>of artist Jamie Hewlett\u2019s famous band characters: Murdoc, Noodle, Russel, and 2-D. <\/span>Albarn\u2019s bubblegum posse consisted of two guitarists with ever-changing hats. The <\/span>band was accompanied by the bubblegum backups, a row of pink-dressed singers with <\/span>looping arm movements and angelic harmonies.<\/span><\/div>\n

In an effortless captivation of the audience, Albarn was juxtaposed with all of the lights, <\/span>and costumes of the night. Dressed in black from head to toe, the co-creator of the band <\/span>appeared as if he could be heading to the grocery store, not performing for an audience <\/span>of thousands. Yet while his demeanor was nonchalant, there\u2019s no denying the <\/span>magnetism he feels for his fans.<\/span><\/div>\n

In the midst of a red performance of Kids With Guns, the UK singer jumped off the stage <\/span>and climbed the guardrails to scream the angsty lyrics directly into the frontmost line <\/span>while fans screamed them right back up to him. With a \u2018screw it\u2019 kind of laugh, Albarn <\/span>dismounted the rails and strolled straight into the center of the mosh. The seas parted <\/span>and buzzed as he passed through to give a mini performance to the lucky fans close <\/span>enough to catch a glimpse.<\/span><\/div>\n
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As a very experimental band, the setlist was craftily chosen to keep the crowd engaged through all ranges of emotions. In the slower songs, Albarn sat down to the piano to <\/span>play as if he was performing a small intimate concert, and would just as quickly jump out <\/span>of his seat to hype up the crowd with head-bangers.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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When the riffing, belting, and harmonica-jamming died down, TD-Garden became a <\/span>wave of turquoise and the familiar music video ship scene came on. Albarn grabbed a <\/span>guitar and began to play Melancholy Hill. The cameras zoomed in close and for the first <\/span>time all night, Albarn breathed out the lyrics with a sweaty smile and finally looked his <\/span>age. At 54 years, the UK singer has the stage presence of a performer 20 years <\/span>younger. Yet during this familiar fan favorite, the zoomed-in camera revealed a raw and <\/span>intimate moment between the singer and a crowd filled with children, parents, and <\/span>grandparents alike.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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The rest of the night was filled with collabs and surprise artists as the band played <\/span>songs like Empire Ants, D\u00e9sol\u00e9, and Opium. Yet the night could have only ended in one <\/span>such way:<\/span>
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In an epic encore, P.O.S marched out onstage with a pledge for the crowd to repeat:<\/span><\/div>\n
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<\/span>\u201cI will never let anyone tell me what to think.\u201d<\/span>
\u201cI will never let anyone tell me what to feel.\u201d<\/span>
\u201cI feel strong. I feel confident\u201d<\/span>
\u201c…I FEEL GOOD!\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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An essential classic to any Gorillaz setlist, the night was brought to a close with Feel <\/span>Good Inc. and, of course, Clint Eastwood. When the overhead lights came back on, <\/span>panting fans seemed to leave feeling fulfilled by the intensity and intimacy of the long-awaited performance.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Review by Shandra Back \u201cThe first place I ever played in America was in Boston,\u201d exclaimed Damon Albarn, co-creator and lead singer of the virtual band, Gorillaz. \u201cThe police shut us down because we were enjoying ourselves too much.\u201d While the police did not shut down this show at TD-Garden on October 11, the crowd […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20669,"featured_media":33831,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1525,1523,15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33830"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20669"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33830"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33830\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33835,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33830\/revisions\/33835"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}