We arrived a little earlier than I normally arrive because I wanted to see the support band, N*E*R*D with Pharell Williams at the helm. They were pretty good but didn't play any of the songs from the only album of theirs that I have.
Gorillaz came on relatively quickly afterwards and started with the same orchestral section that starts their recent Plastic Beach record, followed immediately by the penning track featuring Snoop Dog. He wasn't there but featured on the big screen at the back while the live band played on the stage in front.
The band is the real life version of the cartoon characters themselves and features half of the Clash; Paul and Mick among other less well known musicians. In fact I've never heard of any of them. It was great to see these two punk heroes live on stage having only ever seen Joe Strummer on stage at the start of his solo career in Liverpool with the Incredible Mr Ford. There were a few more people at the Gorillaz last week than turned up for our Joe.
For the rest of the show we were treated to De La Sol for a few of the songs, a couple of other rappers, Little Dragon and the infamous Bobby Womack. The guy is soul and funk royalty although I'm not sure Josh quite appreciated who he was. Sadly we were not treated to the ramblings of Mark E. Smith for Glitter Freeze but you could still here him ask "where's North from here" at the start.
Damon has created an eclectic sound that has attracted a wide audience and a wider selection of guest artistes and it works. You get punk, hip hop, orchestral music, soul, funk, house music and Mark E. Smith.
I was surprised that they were playing our local hockey arena being as they are a little know act here in canada but they are obviously better known than I thought.
I'm not sure Blur were ever this popular.
No comments:
Post a Comment