Thighs Wide Shut

Gorillaz
Madison Square Garden
Rocktober 8th

Damon Albarn was once simply known as the frontman for the Brit-pop band called Blur, who were popular worldwide, but moderately successful in our neck of the shore (unless you count the amount of times ‘Song 2’ has been used in adverts and other stuffs).  Then something happened, something moist incredible: Albarn and his flatmate, renowned animator Jamie Hewlett,  cooked up an idea to make a virtual cartoon band, a Banana Splits meets a hodge-pudge of every musical style conceivable, that could possibly conquer this brave new world

Three albums later, the latest landing at #2 on the US Charts (with the other two within the top 20!), and the furthest thought is that the new world conquerers Gorillaz are a joke.  The combination of Albarn’s voice and vision, Hewlett’s visuals, ingenious producers (first Dan the Automator, then with Danger Mouse, and then Albarn alone!),  a large array of rappers (Del The Funky Homosapien, De La Soul, that dude from the Pharcyde), worldclass world musicians (Buena Vista Social Clubber Ibrahim Ferrer), and long loved, but lately ignored legends (Ike Turner, Bobby Womack) has equaled and continued to equal nothing short of brilliance.  People from the future (we pity you) will look back at marvel at these talents collaborating on what each album has become: a once in a lifetime opportunity, which will stand the test of time

Damon Albarn had finally cracked America, and we were better for it.  The Gorillaz’ first tour in 2002 was a rawkin, yet curious hocus pocus act, featuring incredible theatrics and toons, but left many a concertgoer befuddled and remote from the musicians, since they played the entire show behind a sheet in silhoutte.  Then came the landmark residency shows in Manchester and at the famed Apollo Theater, but 10 masterful shows in total isn’t really reaching your entire audience.  That was a mistake Albarn & Co wouldn’t let happen again, as their latest jaunt to support Plastic Beach is a global one, including multiple stops all over our country

And so, how is the show?  Uh, we saw Roger Waters’ can’t miss Wall show earlier in the week, and our early collected thoughts have the Plastic Beach extravaganza topping it!  Yes!!!!!!!  Sure, the other stops won’t include Lou Reed, Mos Def or Cibo Matto’s Miho Hatori reprising her Noodle ways, but that won’t make the show any less memorable or can’t can’t can’t can’t miss.  This show cannot be missed cause this show will never exist as it is again.  Ferrer, Turner and Dennis Hopper are all dead, and can no longer monkey around with Albarn on stage.  We hope and pray for the long life of Bobby Womack, but lettuce juss say you won’t be able to here him belt out ‘Stylo’ in 30 years time.  Also, how often will Clashers Mick Jones and Paul Simonon play together again, and with Albarn, and with the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble!!!!  O M GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Blur was never big enough to play Madison Square Garden, and probably never will (booooooooo!!  although we’re glad we saw em at Hyde Park last summer), but the Gorillaz are, and they did, and even if the show wasn’t sold out, they owned the place and everyone’s attention in it.  Sure, not everyone was digging Def’s ‘Sweepstakes’ entry, but as we left da Garden, heading to the usual White Castle afterparty, people couldn’t help but shout ‘SWEEEEEEPSTAKES!!!!!!!!!’  We’re still screaming it

Gawd bless you Damon Albarn.  Now figure out a way to get Graham, Alex and Dave to the Garden Party

setlist

Orchestral Intro
Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach
19/2000 (with Miho Hatori)
Last Living Souls
Stylo (with Bobby Womack)
On Melancholy Hill
Rhinestone Eyes
Superfast Jellyfish (with De La Soul)
Tomorrow Comes Today
Some Kind of Nature (with Lou Reed)
Empire Ants (with Yukimi Nagano)
Dirty Harry (with Bootie Brown)
El Mañana
White Flag (with Bashy)
To Binge (with Yukimi Nagano)
DARE (with Rosie Wilson)
Glitter Freeze
Sweepstakes (with Mos Def)
Plastic Beach

Encore
Cloud of Unknowing (with Bobby Womack)
Feel Good Inc. (with De La Soul)
Clint Eastwood (with Bashy)
Don’t Get Lost In Heaven
Demon Days

more pictures

+ watch the Gorillaz’ 44 minute triumph on Live On Letterman

Paul Simonon, Mick Jones, Damon Albarn

Gorillaz tour rehearsal pics [Gorillaz Unoffical]

+ 4 clips from Gorillaz live show
Portsmouth, England, March 21st

No Distance Left To Run, a Blur doc that will rock more than the shows Roc and The Rockford Files combined!!!!!

love how they used ‘The Universal’ in the trailer (can you see us in the Hyde Park crowd?) since it’s one of the mos trailer friendly songs mt EVERest. curious why more movie trailers don’t employ it. it really, really, really could should happen

Gorillaz third album to be called Plastic Beach & guest stars Lou Reed, Snoop Dogg, Bobby Womack, Barry Gibb, Mos Def and the Horrors!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (you can here demos from said album hear)

Massive Attack w/Damon Albarn ‘Saturday Come Slow’, live Brixton 9/17/09

Heritage of venue for Blur’s first gig to be recognized

anything Damon touches turns to gold. we hope one day he’ll touch our peniseseses

it was the best of times, it was the breast of times. OK, so there weren’t a lot of breasts to be had and fondled on our most recent trip to the ye Olde Country (didn’t happen on the last one 4 years ago neither), but that didn’t stop us from partying like a cockstar and a rockstar and a rollstar, and fulfilling our wildest wet dreams of visiting some of Kubrick’s choice Clockwork locales, and the whole reason why this trip slap-happened in the first place…

Blur
Hyde Park
July 2nd

dat’s right folks. Damon, Alex, Dave and Graham, back together again, like they always should be (all dough we didn’t so mind the Gorillaz and the Good, The Bad & The Queen side projects in the interim), belting out all klissasics in the very park that inspired the song (and album) Parklife

‘She’s So High’
‘Girls & Boys’
‘Tracy Jacks’
‘There’s No Other Way’
‘Jubilee’
‘Badhead’
‘Beetlebum’
‘Out Of Time’
‘Trimm Trabb’
‘Coffee & TV’
‘Tender’
‘Country House’
‘Oily Water’
‘Chemical World’
‘Sunday Sunday’
‘Parklife’ (with Phil Daniels!!)
‘End Of A Century’
‘To The End’
‘This Is A Low’
‘Popscene’
‘Advert’
‘Song 2’
‘Death Of A Party’
‘For Tomorrow’
‘The Universal’

all we can say to that set list to end all set lists is WOW (all dough we had our own set list in mind… see the comment at 16:44… that’s 4:44pm to us and yous, when the concert was first announced back in December), cause we really can’t remember that much else since we were more wasted than an American education, but that matters little cause we danced, like on a wave of emotion, romanced. if yer looking for a more concise wrap up from an American’s point of view, peep the Snob’s review from the show on the 3rd

if only we didn’t drink so much GAYmers pear cider cause maybe our memory wouldn’ta been in such a hazy shade of summer, but irregardless, we’d never take back the 100+ high-fives we give the blokes and the birds and the bees and the bidness

no one had any idea what our shirt meant since they don’t have Mountain Dew over there (or air conditioning or Kleenex or napkins or proper beef or Hispanic people and their fine food). odd looks were probably also had for the dudes sporting the Seahawks, NY football Giants and Phoenix Suns tees + the 2 Mets and the (current ugly) Blue Jays hats

and now for some random pics from the rest of our short and not so strange trip…

sadly no pigs or other animals were harmed in the taking of this curvy pic

people think American food sucks, well try getting a good pizza anywhere outside of the US (or Italy) and then talk to us. OK, so we’ll admit that we did eat Dominos whilst there, but we didn’t trust the English pizzerias for one second. apparently the big style over there is ‘American Hot’, cause you know how all of us crazy folks over here love the combo of hot peppers & ‘roni. hactually, maybe we should cause the Dominos version was quite tasty, but sadly their idea of an XL pizza is our equivalent of a kid’s meal

our English mate was mad pissed at us when we told him that these crumpets are what we refer to as English Muffins, which obviously doesn’t eggist in their neck of the woods. he proceeded to tie us up and throw us in some nooks and crannies and then we told him that their beef sucks and so we were even

the proper fi and chi helped to ease our need for some local ‘good’ cuisine. the mashed peas were delish, juss like yer mom’s crotch. we also had curry twice, and to be honest, it’s juss as good as we have it here. Britain’s bestest foods will always remain thier crisps (potato chips) and chocolate bars (Chomp Bars in particular)

we think this is what they call ‘Japanese food’

that’s right, Dallas is the American home of chicken AND pizza! then again, in NY we have Dallas BBQ, and those two don’t necessarily go hand in hand job with each other, so what does anyone know?

and yes, we even ate at Maccy D’s on the 4th of July, in the very same country we gained our independence from. had no idea wha the fork a Miami Melt was, but had to try it. and even if it didn’t taste like an old Jewish Cuban bottle of sun tan lotion dressed in pastels, it was still purty effin and geeing good. LONG LIVE AMERICA(n food)!!!!!!!!!!!!!

we have an American friend living and working over there and he was glad to spend the 4th with another of his kind. and what would ya know, as we strolled in the Heath of Hampstead, we spotted 6 clueless UKers ‘trying’ to play American football, and being Americans, we barged right in and showed them a thing or 7 about our game. we both played QB, and both of us couldn’t get any of them to run a play. we’d be like, take 10 steps and turn around. they kept running beyond 10 steps, and by the time they turned around, they didn’t understand that you had to put your hands out in order to receive the ball. it was like playing with 2 year olds, but we’ve seen 2 year olds play better football then these fellas. but ya know what, good for them for even trying, as most of these pale people on the Isles hate American football and only like soccer cause they hate things that are really cool like endless commercial time outs and punting! it’s kinda sad how soccer is not big back home. it’s even more sad that we have a basketball league that’s called ‘professional’

and
nuttin sez HAPPY 4TH OF JULY quite like seeing Benny Andersson of ABBA fame and his kick ass beard bust out some Swedish jams in the Heath! we only caught 4 songs, but him and his folk group did play ‘I Do I Do I Do I Do I Do’. man, ABBA are truly the forking balls. they really need to reunite, for the sake of their fans, and wear those tight tight tight assed satin outfits, but not for the sake of their balls and ba’ginas

guess since this was a Swedish affair they had to cover up the fact that the meatballs are usually Italian

nope, she wouldn’t let us inspect her carpet to see if it matched the drapes

man, are our arms tired. nice to be back in the States, but England is the effin shaz-natz and if you’ve never been you owe it to yourself to (and if yer in college and can, study abroad there like we did), but don’t expect to eat like we do back here in the land of plenty… of napkins

Damon Albarn, ashlongside Jamie Hewlett and Murdoc, took over Zane Lowe’s BBC Radio 1 show last nite and daybeaued three gloriously gnu Gorillaz demos. This was no lowe. This was a high! here the results hear

‘Binge’

‘Broken’

‘Electric Shock’

[POTQ]

or juss d-lode em hear

+ d-lode the new Lily Allen track ‘The Fear’ hear