O2 Arena, London
Pop’s longest-serving imaginary band fill the reopened venue with deceptive chaos and the delight of feeling part of something again
“It’s such a joy to be back,” says Gorillaz’s human representative, Damon Albarn, addressing a full and bouncing O2 Arena. “Thousands of people communing together. What a wonderful feeling. Thank you.” The crowd roar as if they haven’t been to a gig in 18 months.
Who’d have thought that pop’s longest-serving imaginary band – as youthfully bony as when they were first drawn by artist Jamie Hewlett in 1998 – would make a little real-life history by being the first act to play the reopened O2 Arena? Gorillaz and the O2 aren’t natural bedfellows, the former being ramshackle punk/dub/hip-hop futurists and the latter London’s most impersonal venue, but the arena is the only place large enough to hold them, in all senses. Outside, a gigantic queue snakes around crash barriers, and that’s just to buy hoodies; inside, every seat is occupied, and the stage itself teems with musicians, special guests and, onscreen, the gurning cartoon Gorillaz: Murdoc, Noodle, Russel and 2D. This is, in every respect, a big show.