Gorillaz Debut ‘The Fall’ Tracks & Perform ‘Plastic Beach’ In London

Gorillaz resumed their four-show 25th anniversary run on Tuesday night at London’s Copper Box Arena. The virtual band helmed by Damon Albarn began the guest-assisted concert with a full performance of the 2010 Gorillaz album, Plastic Beach, and ended with the debuts of songs from the album, The Fall.

Albarn enlisted several contributors to Plastic Beach to recreate their parts of the album for last night’s show. Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, Yasiin Bey (rapper formerly known as Mos Def), Super Furry Animals’ Gruff Rhys, De La Soul’s Posdnuos and Little Dragon’s Yukimi were among the participants. The Clash bassist Paul Simonon, Albarn’s The Good, The Bad & The Queen bandmate and Plastic Beach contributor, also appeared.

The show mirrored the Plastic Beach tracklist, save for the album’s third song, “White Flag,” which was saved for the final song of the set. After performing album closer “Pirate Jet,” the National Arab Orchestra took the stage for a performance of Michael Ibrahim’s “Tahmila Hijaz,” followed by “White Flag,” which also featured Bashy.

The encore was composed of songs from the Plastic Beach follow-up album, 2010’s The Fall. Albarn recorded The Fall entirely on an iPad, using new-at-the-time technology to create the album while on tour supporting Plastic Beach.

The show ended with remieres of “Phoner to Arizona” and “California and the Slipping of the Sun” surrounding the first performance of “Revolving Doors” since 2017.

Gorillaz began the four-show 25th anniversary run in London with shows presenting full performances of their 2001 self-titled debut album and their 2005 sophomore record, Demon Days. Along with the four celebratory concerts, which conclude tonight, the Gorillaz 25th anniversary exhibition at the Copper Box, House Of Kong, is running concurrently with the shows.

Scroll for a set of @RefleksConcerts’ videos from last night’s Plastic Beach show: