Gorillaz may be populated by cartoon characters, but Damon Albarn spent much of the band’s Sept. 26 show at Capital One Arena demonstrating the humanity of the project.
Throughout the sprawling performance, Albarn displayed an infectious enthusiasm for the large ensemble band assembled around him. He frequently turned toward his fellow musicians with obvious affection and excitement, looking less like the mastermind commanding an elaborate production than a bandleader genuinely delighted by the people sharing the stage with him.
Clad in mock military gear (a la the Gorillaz sardonic political satire, “The Happy Dictator), Damon extended the same warmth to the audience.
During several of the show’s longer songs, Albarn left the stage and made his way onto the arena floor, shaking hands and singing directly to fans. These were not quick trips down a barricade before retreating to the stage. Albarn lingered among the crowd, using the songs’ extended instrumental passages to make personal connections in an arena otherwise built for spectacle.
That balance — enormous production paired with remarkably direct human interaction — suited Gorillaz perfectly. And I confess it surprised me. This was the first time Gorillaz ever performed live in the District of Columbia, and it was my first time seeing them. I anticipated more reliance on animation and multimedia. But the ever-brilliant Mr. Albarn stuck with good, old-fashioned people power.
Gorillaz opened with “The Mountain,” the title track from their 2026 album, followed by “The Happy Dictator.” Six songs from The Mountain appeared during the 26-song performance, giving the new record as much representation as Demon Days and making clear that Gorillaz were not simply touring on past achievements.
Watch the official visualizer for “The Happy Dictator” by Gorillaz featuring Sparks on YouTube:
The set quickly began moving through different eras. “Tranz” gave way to “Last Living Souls,” followed by the early Gorillaz songs “Tomorrow Comes Today” and “19-2000.”
Few groups can move so casually among electronic music, hip-hop, rock, dub, funk, and pop without sounding as though they are switching formats entirely. With Gorillaz, those sounds have always occupied the same universe. Albarn’s large touring band made those transitions feel even more natural in concert.
And Damon seemed thrilled with them.
Again and again, he visibly celebrated what the musicians around him were doing, directing the crowd’s attention toward players and reacting enthusiastically to their performances. The size of the group could have made the show feel anonymous. Instead, Albarn treated the musicians as a community.
“Rhinestone Eyes” led into one of the evening’s surprises, “O Green World,” a song that I did not foresee appearing on the setlist. Albarn began the Demon Days song at the piano before the full band joined him. “El Mañana” followed, creating a particularly strong stretch from the 2005 album before the bright melancholy of “On Melancholy Hill.” It was another mark of excellent preparation on behalf of the band that the setlist contained a bit of variety from night to night!
The giant video screens provided the other half of the Gorillaz experience, filling the arena with Jamie Hewlett’s animated world. Characters including 2-D, Murdoc, Noodle, and Russel loomed above the performers, maintaining the visual mythology that has surrounded Gorillaz from the beginning. But the musicians below those screens increasingly became the attraction. The guest list alone illustrated the breadth of Albarn’s musical world.
Kara Jackson joined Gorillaz for the new “Orange County.” Little Simz, who had performed as the second opener earlier in the evening, returned for “Garage Palace.” Posdnuos of De La Soul appeared for “Superfast Jellyfish,” while Bootie Brown of The Pharcyde took the stage for “Stylo.”
Rather than making the concert feel fragmented, the steady rotation of performers reinforced Albarn’s role as host and bandleader. He welcomed each new arrival into a show that seemed built around the pleasure of musicians making music together.
That sense of camaraderie proved more important than the machinery surrounding it.
Even the carefully constructed production occasionally gave way to spontaneity. Late in the main set, Albarn interrupted the proceedings from the piano for a rendition of “Happy Birthday,” contributing to a restart of “The Sad God.”
It was a wonderfully ordinary moment inside an otherwise highly coordinated arena show.
Watch the official music video for “The Mountain, The Moon Cave, and The Sad God” by Gorillaz on YouTube:
After “Kids With Guns” and “The Sad God” closed the main set, Gorillaz returned for an encore stacked with some of the project’s most recognizable songs and collaborators.
“Cloud of Unknowing” opened the encore before Del the Funky Homosapien appeared for “Rock the House.” Del had performed as the first opener of the evening also as part of the trio Deltron 3030. Bootie Brown returned for “Dirty Harry,” and Posdnuos came back for “Feel Good Inc.” Then Del returned once more for “Clint Eastwood.”
By that point, the parade of guest appearances did not feel like a collection of cameos. It felt like the natural culmination of the evening.
Gorillaz have always depended on collaboration. The project allows Albarn to pull voices, musicians, genres, and ideas from seemingly unrelated places into the same orbit. At Capital One Arena, he made the relationships among those people visible.
For all the animation, video, technology, and mythology surrounding Gorillaz, the most compelling figure onstage was a very real Damon Albarn — grinning at his enormous band, welcoming friends onto the stage, climbing down to meet the audience, and seemingly enjoying every minute of it.
Here are some photos of Gorillaz performing live at Capital One Arena on Sept. 26, 2026. All pictures by Ben Bentley.
