The Worlds Biggest Virtual Band Bring Their Latest Tour to the Plastic Beach of Miami – Photos and Feature on the Gorillaz Concert at the Miami-Dade Arena in Miami, FL

It’s been more than 5 years since the last time the venerable Gorillaz squad graced Florida with their historic III Points performance, and after a long time away they’ve finally returned to the Sunshine State. Damon Albarn and the gang are back in the flesh (and screen) on their world tour supporting their latest album Cracker Island, which is due out early next year, and Miami was the last stop on their global journey. Bringing along fellow English group Jungle, Gorillaz stopped by the beautiful Miami-Dade Arena where the Miami Heat call home for a riotous finale to their expansive trek.

Kicking off the festivities that night was Jungle, a group I had not heard of until seeing them live as they opened for Gorillaz. I couldn’t have asked for a better first-time experience, however, as the group delivered an impressive performance while the crowd filled into the arena. The group consists of Josh Lloyd-Watson and Tom McFarland, and while they normally record songs in studio as a duo, they bring out an entire group of amazing musicians out to perform live, Nine Inch Nails style. Once the band really got going through their setlist, I started to recognize that I actually know some of these songs, as a few of them have been featured in commercials I’ve seen and even a couple of video games. They finished up their time on stage with “Busy Earnin’ “ and departed into the shadows as the long wait for the main event began.

Finally as fog filled the room, the lights dimmed and the giant screen on stage began to flicker to life, the Gorillaz live band appeared onstage to roaring applause from the crowd. As green light drenched the stage, the opening notes (and “Hello’s”) of “M1 A1″ began to play and Damon Albarn took to the stage breaking into song, clad in pink along with the rest of the band. The impressive 12 person live ensemble did an amazing job recreating the sonic chemistry created in the studio, and songs like “Last Living Souls“, “Tranz“, and “Tomorrow Comes Today” sounded amazing with full band backing. The setlist was absolutely incredible and a dream come true for any fan, with the band playing almost the entirety of Demon Days and their self-titled album, and even some rarities like “She’s My Collar”, “Empire Ants” and “Humility” (which was played live on this tour for the first time).

Damon was also super interactive with the crowd, singing from the barrier while giving high-fives, impressively signing autographs while performing, and going into the audience multiple times during the set, even giving a young fan a hug and a shout out during “Kids With Guns“. The second half of the show was filled with surprise guests and special appearances. Bootie Brown came out for “Dirty Harry” and original Gorillaz rapper Del the Funky Homosapien came out to do “Clint Eastwood“, which received a special remix ending. The band also came back onstage for an enormous five song encore, with two members of De La Soul coming out to perform “Feel Good Inc”  and Del coming back out for “Rock the House“. Gorillaz finished their time on stage with a heartfelt rendition of the two part ending to the Demon Days album: “Don’t Get Lost In Heaven” and “Demon Days“. As Damon finished thanking the crowd, the crew, the management and everyone involved in their tour, the band finally disappeared into the back stage for the final time. I can’t wait to see what the band has in store for us with next year’s Cracker Island, and I hope they come back stateside soon to show us more songs from it live!