With new music on the way and a four-night residency now concluded, Gorillaz fans can reap the rewards of a reinvigorated Damon Albarn. The Gorillaz mastermind returned to the stage and performed the group’s three best albums, along with a fourth performance of entirely new material. We are a few months out from hearing what his Sparks, Johnny Marr, and Black Thought collaborations sound like. Time flies when listening to Music Nights, though, a live release from Gorillaz. A seemingly out-of-the-blue release, a full recording of the band performing their self-titled debut in full. Anniversaries are going to hit thick and fast. The allure of performing a project in full, surprisingly for the first time, as was the case for Supergrass and Suede over the last few years, is of real appeal to audiences. Music Nights offers the same for Gorillaz fans and shines a light on the deeper cuts of a truly great album.
A compilation of news clips, MTV performances and songs of the time acts as a flood of memories ahead of the performance. What influenced Gorillaz was a dissatisfaction with contemporary culture and the counter of that. Neither were strong at the turn of the century. Nobody was, really, working on a truly new concept. Gorillaz was that spark of fresh life, and Music Nights shows how this came to be brilliantly. Nostalgia is a big factor in many of these reunions or replays. Not Gorillaz, though. They manage to side-step the expectations of playing up to the crowd with a sense of renewed energy for their oldest songs. Albarn wouldn’t allow nostalgia to play a part in a performance like this, which is an excellent experience for the at-home viewer. Visual displays on the screen behind the band are overlaid on the film, which takes real delight in highlighting the featured artists. M1 A1 marks an incredible opener, and the strengths of the album continue from there with additional work from Miho Hatori and Chris Storr.
Crucial to all this is just how strong an album Gorillaz is. There’s a beating cultural intensity running through the album still. Albarn and the on-stage musicians make easy work of adapting those tones into a fitting commentary on modern times. That is the success of any great album, longevity which keeps it relevant. Gorillaz has that. Demon Days and Plastic Beach, too, which were also performed in full on gigs to follow this one, offer that. Clint Eastwood is an inevitably strong showcase of the group at their best, while later performances of 19-2000, Slow Country, and Dracula, are brilliant deep cuts. Not just moments for the dedicated fan but the passing listener to reconnect with a part of the self-titled album, songs which flew under the radar.
“Just sing what you fucking like, I don’t give a shit,” just about sums up Albarn as an artist. It’s the mood or theme which is meant to take precedent, not the wording itself. He would deploy that on many Blur songs and Punk during this sensational Gorillaz performance. What this is for many is a tease of whether they want to see Gorillaz live. A performance this good can only promote the shows to come, the sensational stage style captured brilliantly and turned around in impressive time given how recently the performance was. But striking while the iron is hot has always been the way through for Albarn, and Gorillaz especially is as active as they ever have been. His frequent ability to crack through the noise is exceptional, but the band has not sounded this culturally relevant or in touch in over a decade.
