Gorillaz Rock With De La Soul for 'Be on Letterman' - Spinner

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Gorillaz are billed as a "virtual band," but with all due regard to artist Jamie Hewlett, creator of the cartoon rockers purportedly behind the music, the ensemble led by Damon Albarn may have outgrown its multimedia gimmick. Performing Thursday night at New York City's Ed Sullivan Theater as function of the 'Experience on Letterman' webcast series, Albarn's hip-pop electro-dub rock 'n' roll circus needed little in the way of theatrics.

A television screen flashed animated sequences starring Hewlett's characters, but they were wasted at best. When your real-life band includes De La Soul and two other members of the Clash, who needs make-believe? Thursday's nine-song, 45-minute set offered a preview of the showGorillaz would pay the next night at Madison Square Garden, avenue that, while not as big as some of the European festival groundsAlbarn has played, still signals a form of victory. "I've been waiting my whole life for tomorrow night," Albarn said,standing on another iconic stage, one the Beatles played in 1964. Insofar as the Beatles made it OK for rock groups to wear funny clothesand incorporate art and pageantry into their music, Gorillaz are directdescendents. On opener 'Kids With Guns,' the group's two drummersdropped a free dance beat, while the two background singers quoted from Salt-N-Pepa's 'Push It.' Most of the band wore sailor costumes, inkeeping with the nautical theme of Gorillaz latest album, 'PlasticBeach,' but Albarn opted for a '70s punk look, rocking a red stripedT-shirt and leather jacket. 'O Green World,' up next, featured radar-blip keyboards and blunt, funkylow end, complements of ex-Clash bassist Paul Simonon - still thecoolest guy in the room. His former bandmate Mick Jones, resplendent infull-on admiral gear, bashed out simple guitar chords and strutted likehe'd just returned from taking a war. De La Soul bum-rushed the point on 'Superfast Jellyfish,' a sugar-sweetbanger whose nimble rhymes and gangsta-stroll pace should have made itthis summer's official jam. The wistful synth lick of 'On MelancholyHill' slowed the company down, but by the time Gorillaz made it to 'FeelGood Inc.' and 'Clint Eastwood,' the last two songs, those with ticketsfor the Garden show had already begun cursing the 23 hours standingbetween them and another genre-melting dance party. During 'Clint Eastwood,' perhaps the only melodica-driven dub track everto chart in America, Albarn invited folks in the first pair of rowsto join him onstage. The gang faced the camera and chanted the onlymessage anyone need take off from Gorillaz music: "The next is comingon."

Watch Gorillaz 'Live on Letterman'