By Dillon Bey
Gorillaz gave Vancouver a live debut performance of their song New Genius (brother) which released in 2001 on their self-titled Album ‘Gorillaz’ as well as surprising Canadians with guest performances from Bootie Brown, Sweetie Irie, and Pos.
This all being a part of the Gorillaz North American tour in which Vancouver was their fist stop September 11. Sunday marks the first time Gorillaz has come back to Vancouver in 11 years and the first time back to Canada in 8 years. Lead artist Damon Albarn making connections between us Canadians and his British homeland and addressing the shared loss over Her majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
Probably the best moment of the night was when surprise guest Pos came on stage and led the audience in a chant.
“I need you to repeat after me,” he said. “I will never let anyone tell me what to think. I will never let anyone tell me what to say. I will never let anyone tell me who to love. Everyone, I will never let anyone tell me how to feel. I feel strong. I feel confident. And… I FEEL GOOD!”
Albarn somehow managed to make rogers arena feel like a small venue by being incredibly personal with his performance like hugging all his band members going off script and pointing everyone’s attention to an audience member who had a child on there shoulders deemed the ‘wise one’ by Damon as we all wiggled our fingers towards him and chanted ‘wise one’.
Once Bootie Brown had come on stage, he also made note of the infant in the audience which made the arena burst out into laughter.
Vancouver is honored to host the first show in the Gorillaz North American tour. And let’s hope it doesn’t take another 11 years for them to return to Vancouver.