OPINION: Why Gorillaz at MSG Was Life-Changing
BY: JACKSON WELLS / STAFF WRITER
In middle school, my music taste was formed and heavily influenced by my peers, video games, and most impactfully, the internet. YouTube was the platform I spent the most time on, pretty much watching whatever caught my attention. There was a certain video titled “What Redbone would sound like if it was a giant mashup.” Being a massive Childish Gambino fan, I clicked on it. What would appear in front of me was a cartoon drawing of a character with a pale face, blue hair, black eyes and text that read, “Gorillaz - Clint Eastwood”.
Four decades later, and I’ve stood as an active fan through four album cycles, one interactive museum exhibit, and a concert in 2022. With this new record The Mountain being my favorite of theirs in the last 20 years, I knew I had to catch them again. The only problem was, I’d always swore off Madison Square Garden due to most ticket prices starting at $200+. Luckily, with a day-of $150 ticket purchase on SeatGeek, I was ready to take on what would soon be the best concert I have ever witnessed.
Navigating the venue was much easier than I realized, and having familiarized myself with Barclays Center, the less pricey version of the same stadium setup, I was content in my nosebleed seat. The first act of the night was Deltron 3030, a trio consisting of Del the Funky Homosapien (who raps on the aforementioned “Clint Eastwood”), producer Dan the Automator, and DJ Kid Koala. From spinning records live to spitting effortless rhymes, the opener did not disappoint.
Little Simz was up next, and as one of the UK’s best rappers, I was honored to be able to catch her with a live band backing. Her engaging energy, boundless breath control, and neo-soul influences piqued my interest. If only I knew what Gorillaz and the crew had up their sleeves, I would be bouncing off the walls with excitement.
Gorillaz entered the stage and played two songs off of the new record, which I was certainly ecstatic about. Just like any legacy act should though, they then switched gears to older songs and brought out Miho Hatori (the voice of fictional lead guitarist Noodle) for “19-2000.”
After a successful trip down memory lane, rapper Black Thought stepped into view as the first unannounced special guest to perform his tracks off The Mountain. With this year’s album drawing inspiration from Indian culture, it was lovely to see Asha Puthli and Ajay Prasanna on bansuri (Indian flute) take the stage.
In between a few more throwbacks, Kara Jackson played a game of call-and-response on “Orange County” and Little Simz came back on for “Garage Palace.” There weren't just vocal special guests however, as the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble knocked the socks off the stadium with a few Plastic Beach tracks. For any other special NYC show, that would be plenty, but for a band constructed around collaboration, the surprises kept coming.
The Pharcyde’s Bootie Brown made repeated appearances, and Clipse’s Pusha T shook the world with a first-time-since-2017 performance of “Let Me Out.” Paying due respect to the nearby neighborhood, the Harlem Gospel Choir made an arena meant for sports feel like a church.
To give the people an encore worth staying until midnight for, De La Soul’s Posdnuos got everyone in high spirits with “Feel Good Inc.” In the most full circle moment possible, Del the Funky Homosapien rocked the house with “Clint Eastwood,” and the concert concluded.
Not only did the amount of people in every set constitute festival quantity, but every song had animated visualizers as well. It wasn’t all music though, as speeches in between would range from praises of gratitude to everyone, even Zohran Mamdani, and giving a voice to the voiceless as a “Free Palestine” flag waved.
This experience goes to show that not only is live music as important as ever, but even bands that have been around for entire lifetimes still have yet to go stale. Gorillaz was formed in 1998, yet creators Damon Albarn & Jamie Hewlett have both been professionally releasing art into the world since the 80s. It’s never too late to be the consumer of great media, but it’s also never too late to start a career either.
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