Gorillaz to take family on tour

Gorillaz are set to step out from their cartoon shadows and play album ‘Demon Days’ live for the first time in its entirety.

The band will play a five night stint at the Manchester Opera House from November 1-5, and unlike their last UK gigs in 2001 when the group performed silhouetted behind a screen, Damon Albarn and co will reveal all and take to the stage.

The residency is being used to launch the new Manchester International Festival which will take place in 2007, and will see Gorillaz get together as many of their collaborators from ‘Demon Days’ – including Roots Manuva and Shaun Ryder plus more to be confirmed – as possible.


“Manchester is the centre of Britain, we’re only ever going to do this once so it makes sense to do it somewhere in the middle of the country,” explained Albarn of the shows. “London gets all the gigs. It’s time to do something a bit different to readdress the balance. We’re very excited to be getting all the guests artists together in one place for these shows.”

The shows if the first in a series of “trailblazer” events for the Manchester Festival , and organisers are promising more one-off events like the Gorillaz’ residency.

Tickets for the five dates have yet to be confirmed, but details will be released via Manchesterinternationalfestival.com .