Gorillaz - Demon Days

  by Anthony Strutt

published: 15 / 4 / 2006

intro

Anthony Strutt profiles Gorillaz's new live DVD 'Demon Days', which was filmed at a concert in Manchester last year

This is a live DVD shot at the Manchester Opera House on the 5th November last year as part of the Manchester International Festival. As a DVD, the packaging looks great, but it is what is states on the wrapper, 'Demon Days Live'. The extras are somewhat lacking consisting of the back drops of film used in the background of the live performance. It, however, starts well, being animated in parts and climbing through the shitty streets of Manchester in the rain, to the venue and past the touts and into the arena. Urban music in an opera house ? Who would have thought of it, eh ? I'm not a fan of Gorillaz, but 'Demon Days' is a stand out album. It has got very mixed cultural references, and is as an important album for 2005 as was 'Pet Sounds'in 1966 and 'Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' the following year. I was hoping to see the animated characters playing the songs whom the band have used at recent awards shows, but you only see these dudes at the end, encouraging the audience to clap for an encore. The whole album is performed by the 4 piece band with a string section plus backing singers and a childrens' choir. Only the guest musicians get front of stage lights put on them until the end when Damon Albarn does some vocals at the centre of the stage. The rest of the time he is at the back on piano, and the whole band perform in darkness with shaded light. The guest musicians include Neneh Cherry, and a sober Shaun Ryder. This is a brilliant performance and apart from the singles to date off this, 'Dirty Harry', 'Feel Good Inc' and the new 'Kids with Guns', which already are modern day classics, the song that for me worked is 'White Light', a new song to my ears which blended a hard rock backing track with church gospel. It is a really refreshing idea that works brilliantly. The whole concept of the album and the DVD is that, although we do live in a mixed up world with different cultures and there are differences between us, there is no reason why we can't live together in harmony. To get this message across , it has to be delivered not by a prime minister but from some geezer who was in Blur !