Gorillaz are set to make history this weekend with their first-ever stadium headline show in London, and the guest list is packed with names that will matter to labels, publishers and rights holders watching the band’s live strategy closely. The one-off Tottenham Hotspur Stadium date will bring a large cast of collaborators onto one stage as the group supports their latest album, The Mountain.
A stadium debut built around collaborators
The show takes place on Saturday, June 20, at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and marks the band’s first stadium headline show. Damon Albarn and co. have already played warm-up shows in Bradford and launched their UK and Ireland tour in March, with dates including Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow.
Support at the London show will come from Sparks and Trueno, and Gorillaz confirmed 22 guest performers who will join them during the set. Many of the names featured on songs across The Mountain, including Johnny Marr, who appears on The Plastic Guru and The Empty Dream Machine, and Black Thought, who featured on The Sad God and The Empty Dream Machine.
Guest list stretches across Gorillaz’s catalog
Other confirmed guests include Asha Puthli, Anoushka Shankar, Bashy, Bootie Brown, De La Soul, Fatoumata Diawara, Gruff Rhys, Kara Jackson, Little Simz, London Arab Orchestra, Moonchild Sanelly, Omar Souleyman, Paul Simonon, Popcaan, Rose Gabor, Shaun Ryder, Yasiin Bey and Yukimi.
Several of those artists have long ties to the band’s recorded work. Little Simz featured on Humanz track Garage Palace, Paul Simonon appeared on the Plastic Beach title track, and Shaun Ryder is linked to fan-favourite Dare. Anoushka Shankar also appears across multiple songs on The Mountain, while Sparks and Trueno are also on the bill as supporting acts.
What this means for the live rollout
The Tottenham show extends a busy run for Gorillaz, who have also been announced for festival slots at Electric Picnic, Primavera Sound Barcelona, Porto and Rock Werchter. The band has also confirmed its first ever India tour dates. Earlier this year, Albarn and co. appeared on The Graham Norton Show to perform Orange County, and Albarn jokingly refused to say the name of Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, calling it a “large music venue in North London.”
NME gave The Mountain a four-star review, describing it as “an album that celebrates the love you leave behind, the people you touch, the spirit of giving more than you take, how we’re all the same when it’s done.” What to watch next is the Saturday London show itself, where the scale of the guest appearances will be the clearest sign of how Gorillaz are framing this new album cycle onstage.
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