Gorillaz Announce A Fall North American Tour And They’re Bringing Jungle With Them
CoS- Gorillaz have announced their first North American tour in four years.
The 21-date arena tour will see Gorillaz mastermind Damon Albarn joined on stage by a 14-piece live band, as well as “varying cast of guest performers.” Kicking off on September 11th in Vancouver, the tour also includes stops in cities like Seattle, Los Angeles Phoenix, Chicago, Toronto, Brooklyn, and Miami. EARTHGANG will open the majority of the dates, with the exception of the two Florida shows, which will be supported by Jungle.
I saw Gorillaz trending on Twitter this morning and thought they released more new music, but this is even better news.
Last August, Gorillaz released Meanwhile, a surprise three-song EP inspired by Carnival and West London.
The year prior, they released their Song Machine project with Season One: Strange Timez.
I've been wanting to see a Gorillaz show live forever. I've never been, and honestly had no inclination to even wanting to until hearing over and over and over again from people who've called it an incredible experience.
Since we're in the circle of trust here, and continuing to be honest, I fucking hated these guys when they first came out in 2001. Being a giant Oasis fan, and having a sworn blood oathe to them, also meant having extreme hatred for their "rival" band, Blur. Damon Albarn was the famous lead singer of the band and cock smooch shit talker who constantly tried to stir shit up with the Gallagher boys.
When they disbanded and he formed Gorillaz, it seemed like he was just ripping off the Daft Punk "One More Time Video"
But the proof is in the pudding, the debut album, Gorillaz, was a smash. "Tomorrow Comes Today", "Clint Eastwood", "19-2000", "Rock the House", "Clint Eastwood", and "5/4" were all huge hits.
Following that up with the insanely important, and difficult to pull off, sophomore album, Demon Days which turned out to be just a great if not even better solidified Gorillaz as the real deal.
If that wasn't enough, for a majority of their dates they're bringing one of my favorite bands along with them as support to open: Jungle.
If you don't know who Jungle is you gotta get familiar because they're fucking awesome.
As I wrote back in August -
- One of the best albums of the summer was released by Jungle. Their third LP, Loving in Stereo, is 45 minutes of sythn jazz disco funk. Just an incredible album that I highly recommend throwing on. Here's two great preview tracks
and here's the album -
Jugle is a seven-piece funk group signed to the well-known English indie label XL. They have an indie rock meets disco-fu sound and make some of the most fun music to listen to right now. They call their sound "amiable, non-invasive, and bass-heavy" tracks, but they rely heavily on massed vocals to disguise the lack of commanding leaders.
If you like sounds from the 70's you will love Jungle.
I am pumped to see Gorillaz in October at United Center. But they're with Earthgang who I admittedly don't know dick about, so I'll have to head to Miami later in the month to catch them with Jungle. Below are the Fall tour dates.
Gorillaz 2022 Tour Dates:
08/19 – London, UK @ All Points East Festival
09/11 – Vancouver, BC @ Rogers Arena *
09/12 – Seattle, WA @ Climate Pledge Arena *
09/14 – Portland, OR @ Moda Center *
09/17 – Las Vegas, NV @ Life is Beautiful Festival *
09/19 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Vivint Smart Home Arena *
09/21 – San Francisco, CA @ Chase Center *
09/23 – Los Angeles, CA @ Kia Forum *
09/26 – Phoenix, AZ @ Footprint Center *
09/28 – Denver, CO @ Ball Arena *
09/30 – Austin, TX @ Moody Center *
10/01 – Irving, TX @ The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory *
10/03 – Chicago, IL @ United Center *
10/05 – Detroit, MI @ Little Caesars Arena v
10/06 – Toronto, ON @ Scotiabank Arena *
10/08 – Montreal, QC @ Bell Centre *
10/11 – Boston, MA @ TD Garden *
10/12 – Brooklyn, NY @ Barclays Center *
10/14 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Met Philadelphia *
10/17 – Columbia, MD @ Merriweather Post Pavilion *
10/19 – Alpharetta, GA @ Ameris Bank Amphitheater *
10/21 – Orlando, FL @ Amway Center ^
10/23 – Miami, FL @ FTX Arena ^