Midweek arena gigs don’t scream party time on the face of it.
In particular, those that have twelve songs from the latest album, an album which is based around the two key components losing their fathers recently.
While the twenty-four-song set may have plucked half of it from the recent, critically acclaimed album ‘The Mountain’, despite the subject matter being emotional in so many ways, the show tonight is a joyous, uplifting experience from start to finish that has a Leeds crowd rapt throughout and shows just how real a band Gorillaz are.
The feel of the evening is of a reverential celebration of everything Gorillaz do well and Damon Albarn, the mad scientist-like musical brain behind the band, somehow pulls it all together into an incredibly coherent and beautifully flowing performance that flies by in the blink of an eye.
We cross genres regularly, as well as countries of influence, as traditional Indian sounds weave in and out either side of European pop, gospel and US hip hop, guests come and go from the stage to compliment the large ensemble of main players that Albarn has put together and each of them is visibly loving the gig, smiles beaming out across the large screens on a regular basis.
While Albarn, ever the perfectionist, stops a couple of tracks a few seconds in as he’s not completely satisfied with something, it’s a tight band of players that he has put together and everyone of them plays their part. He may be the star of the show, but he lets the other players breathe and shine on stage.
Possibly the biggest crowd reaction of the night is the closing half of ‘Kids With Guns’ that sees Michelle Ndegwa delivering a vocal that has to be heard to be believed: power, control and range a real high point in a packed set.
During the restarted ‘Andromeda,’ long term bass player Seye Adelekan goes walkabout in the pit at the front of the crowd while knocking out his trademark basslines.
Talking of bass, tonight the sound is impeccable in the Arena, the bass pulses through your chest and legs and tracks like ‘Tranz’, ‘Delerium’ and ‘Stylo’ absolutely grab and shake you alive, with the latter accompanied in the background with the Bruce Willis starring music video playing, in my mind the best video they have done in a back catalogue that sets a high bar on visuals, thanks to the art of Jamie Hewlett.
Another really noticeable feature of the night is the interactions. There are plenty between Damon and the crowd, including him talking about how “the Gorillaz family of musicians have grown over the years” and, amusingly, when he pulls one of his trade mark faces and declares in a creepy voice that “I like you”, it’s fair to say there is plenty of love in the air both ways tonight between performers and crowd.
These moments of shared appreciation and affection also stretch to the guest musicians – Joe Talbot from IDOLS and Damon jokingly fool around, hug and sing arm in arm when he joins the stage for ‘The God of Lying’, support act Trueno joins on an epic ‘The Manifesto’ which is pre-planned, but is also invited back on stage for the closing number of the encore after Damon tells the story of how he first met him and saw him do an impromptu rap over ‘Clint Eastwood’. After word gets back to the young Argentinian rapper backstage, he heads back out on to the stage and celebrates his birthday in style, bringing a new edge to an old favourite to reprise his first meeting with Damon.
I did think when I wrote about the album for Leeds Living a few weeks ago, that the new songs might divide the more casual Goriilaz fan who came to hear ‘Dare’ and hasn’t been played on the tour at any point.
As with pretty much every project Damon Albarn has been involved in over the years, he finds melody and beauty in places that others can’t, and he knows how to write tracks that tap straight into your inner core and stay with you. Based on the buzz from the crowd and the large smiles as everyone leaves the arena, the musical chameleon has pulled it off again and delivered a night that should live long in the memory of the 13,000 people who worshipped and partied at the altar of Gorillaz in the first direct bank arena tonight.
Gorillaz Setlist for 25 March 2026
THE MOUNTAIN
THE HAPPY DICTATOR
TRANZ
int dark pop
TOMORROW COMES TODAY
19/2000
THE GOD OF LYING (IDLES)
THE MOON CAVE
EL MANANA
intro madam
ON MELANCHOLY HILL
THE EMPTY DREAM MACHINE
CLOUD OF UNKNOWING
DELIRIUM
ANDROMEDA
STYLO (Yasiin Bey)
DAMASCUS (Yasiin Bey)
KIDS WITH GUNS (Michelle Ndegwa)
intro
DIRTY HARRY (Bootie Brown)
THE SHADOWY LIGHT
THE SAD GOD
THE HARDEST THING
ORANGE COUNTY (Kara Jackson)
THE MANIFESTO – Trueno
FEEL GOOD INC (POs – De La Soul)
CLINT EASTWOOD
