Gorillaz are in the midst of their four-night London residency at Copper Box Arena, and last night (August 30) they played their album ‘Demon Days’ in full for the first time since 2005. Check out the full setlist and fan-shot footage below.
Marking the closing week of their House of Kong exhibition at the venue, the residency gigs will run until September 3, and will see Albarn joined on stage by the full Gorillaz live band and backed by visuals by Jamie Hewlett.
On Friday night (August 29), the band played their debut album in full for the first show of the residency. Last night, they played the full set of songs from their 2005 album ‘Demon Days’ – and were joined on stage by De La Soul, Bootie Brown of The Pharcyde, and Michelle Ndegwa.
The band also recreated the visuals and structure of the original ‘Demon Days’ shows in 2005 as a one-off.
Some of the tracks were played live for the first time in several years. This included ‘All Alone’, which has not been played since 2006, and ‘November Has Come’, which has not been played live since 2010.
Watch fan-captured footage of the entire concert, and check out the full setlist below.
Gorillaz, on August 30, at Copper Box Arena played:
‘Intro’ (with Ben Castle) (First time played live instead of from tape)
‘Last Living Souls’
‘Kids With Guns’ (with Michelle Ndegwa)
‘O Green World’ (Damon piano intro; with false start)
‘Dirty Harry’ (with Bootie Brown) (with Lifted Up Community Choir Youth)
‘Feel Good Inc.’ (with De La Soul)
‘El Mañana’
‘Every Planet We Reach Is Dead’
‘November Has Come’ (first time live since 2010)
‘All Alone’ (with Skye Edwards) (first time live since 2006)
‘White Light’
‘DARE’ (with Michelle Ndegwa) (and Rebecca)
‘Fire Coming Out of the Monkey’s Head’
‘Don’t Get Lost in Heaven’ (with “Demon Days” choir intro; with false start)
‘Demon Days’ (with London Community Gospel Choir)
Encore:
‘68 State’
‘We Are Happy Landfill’ (live debut)
‘Rockit’
‘Hong Kong’ (with Qing Du)
This Tuesday (September 2) will then see Gorillaz play their 2010 third album ‘Plastic Beach’ in full. This will mark the first full live performance of the album since two shows at London’s Roundhouse 15 years ago, and will again recreate the visuals seen from the original gigs.
Finally, the fourth show will be held on September 3 and is described by the band as a ‘Mystery Show’. It isn’t yet clear if there will be any special guests joining Albarn, nor has it been shared which songs fans can expect.
This year has also seen Albarn tease a new Gorillaz album, and suggest it will be arriving later in 2025. “I’m finishing a new Gorillaz album. One opera and one new Gorillaz album seems like enough for 2025,” he told French magazine Les Inrockuptibles. “Unless someone accuses me of taking my foot off the gas!”
Hewlett then added fuel to the fire, writing in an Instagram comment: “Yes, the new album is coming out this year.”
Then, in an interview with Channel 4 earlier this month, Albarn seemed to further tease new music. When asked, “So might there be something new there?”, the musician responded, “There might. I mean, yes. In that sense, yeah,” while Hewlett mimed his throat being cut.
Gorillaz’s last album, 2023’s ‘Cracker Island’, was given a four-star review by NME. It concluded: “The loose narrative structure suits both creative and listener: Albarn and his team appear unburdened by living up to a concept, and instead turn in a consistently enjoyable record that shows why they remain relevant so far into their career.
“A band that was once considered mucking about on the periphery of pop are now very much defining the present and inspiring the future. You could be doing much worse for album eight, eh?”