Watch Gorillaz surprise fans with ‘The Fall’ tracks after playing ‘Plastic Beach’ in full with Yasiin Bey, Gruff Rhys and Paul Simonon

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Watch Gorillaz surprise fans with ‘The Fall’ tracks after playing ‘Plastic Beach’ in full with Yasiin Bey, Gruff Rhys and Paul Simonon

Alongside a host of guests including Yasiin Bey, Gruff Rhys and Paul Simonon, Gorillaz surprised fans with tracks from ‘The Fall‘ after performing ‘Plastic Beach’ in full in London – check out footage below.

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The Damon Albarn-led band kicked off the first of four limited-capacity live shows at the Copper Box Arena in London last week (August 29) to mark their 25th anniversary. Gigs celebrating the milestone have so far seen them play their self-titled debut and its follow-up ‘Demon Days’ in full at the Copper Box.

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Last night, the band took on their third album ‘Plastic Beach’, giving tracks ‘Orchestral Intro’ and ‘Welcome To The World Of The Plastic Beach’ their first living outing since 2010. Backed by the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, their set saw them bring out a slew of special guests.

Yasiin Bey joined them for ‘Stylo’ and Sweepstakes’, while Gruff Rhys and Posdnuos assisted them with ‘Superfast Jellyfish’. Later on in the performance, Swedish artist Yukimi took on ‘Empire Ants’ and ‘To Binge’, with the latter track being played live for the first time since 2018.

Later additions included The Clash bassist Paul Simonon on the record’s title track, and the National Arab Orchestra and Bashy joined Gorillaz for ‘White Flag’, marking the first time the song has been heard live since 2010.

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Gorillaz played:

‘Orchestral Intro’ (with Hypnotic Brass Ensemble)
‘Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach’ (with Hypnotic Brass Ensemble)
‘Rhinestone Eyes’
‘Stylo’ (with Yasiin Bey)
‘Superfast Jellyfish’ (with Gruff Rhys and Posdnuos)
‘Empire Ants’ (with Yukimi)
‘Glitter Freeze
‘Some Kind of Nature’ (first time live since 2017)
‘On Melancholy Hill
‘Broken’ (with Hypnotic Brass Ensemble)
‘Sweepstakes’ (with Yasiin Bey and Hypnotic Brass Ensemble)
‘Plastic Beach’ (with Paul Simonon and Hypnotic Brass Ensemble)
‘To Binge’ (with Yukimi)
‘Cloud of Unknowing’
‘Pirate Jet’
‘Tahmila Hijaz’ (Michael Ibrahim cover with National Arab Orchestra)
‘White Flag’ (with National Arab Orchestra and Bashy)

Encore:
‘Three Hearts, Seven Seas, Twelve Moons’
‘Phoner to Arizona’
‘Revolving Doors’
‘California and the Slipping of the Sun’

Having played through the entirety of the 2010 record, the band then surprised fans by playing ‘The Fall’ tracks ‘Phoner To Arizona’ and ‘California And The Slipping Of The Sun’ live for the first time ever in the encore.

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Released the same year as ‘Plastic Beach’, ‘The Fall’ was initially shared as a free stream on Gorillaz’s website before its subsequent official release months later.

Tonight’s (September 3) fourth and final show is pegged 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.

Ahead of the anniversary shows, Albarn teased a new Gorillaz album, and suggested 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 last 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.

He recently looked back to the band’s debut, saying the falsetto heard the record album was “definitely related” to the drugs he was taking at the time.

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