Gorillaz Just Played A Secret Gig In London & We Were There

A few hundred English people - and this Australian - shuffled into London's Printworks for 9pm. We heard the news Gorillaz were performing their new record Humanz in full on Thursday, the same day the band dropped four album tracks and a full tracklist, including guests. Everyone hustled to get their tickets, and then hustled to get in on time, except it was less of a hustle and more queuing politely, a particularly British pastime.

Printworks, in London's Docklands, opened up back in November in the former printing facility of the Metro and Evening Standard newspapers (yes, that Evening Standard, the newspaper Londoners read for free on the Tube every afternoon, whose new editor is a bloody Tory). Its history makes for quite the venue, all high ceilings and reinforced walls, kind of akin to Sydney's industrial haven Carriageworks.

But the purpose of today isn't to write about Printworks and its virtues as a venue - 4/5, quite good, good sound quality, nice - it's to talk about Damon Albarn OBE (yes, that is a true fact) and Tank Girl's Jamie Hewlett's virtual band project returning to our ears and eyes six-odd years since the Plastic Beach tour of 2010.

Albarn says he wont be introducing his guests - there's too many of them - although a few couldn't make it, such as Vince Staples, whose guest spot on Ascension opens both the record and the set. Albarn assures the assembled they'll all be there to headline the Gorillaz-curated Demon Dayz festival in Kent in June. In the guest sense, seeing Gorillaz, and listening to a Gorillaz record is kind of like seeing and listening to Mark Ronson - Ronson's skill is as a musician and producer, a bandleader, pulling together disparate threads to make songs and create live experiences that are so innovative and strange as to be thrilling. Albarn does the same - but better. Seeing Albarn pull together the acts that give life to Humanz is bearing witness to a live collage of the music industry right now - who you should know, who is going to blow up, who has already, and a couple of old favourites: you've got Danny Brown, Kelela, Pusha T, Jehnny Beth from Savages, Mavis Staples. Some of them are here with us today, engaging and cajoling the crowd, worth craning your neck for.

In the midst of all this star power - guys, Noel Gallagher is playing with Beth on We Got The Power, and what Blur fan doesn't want to see Graham Coxon on Submission - Hewlett's work creating the visual world of the Gorillaz, of 2D, Murdoc, Noodle and Russel, feels overshadowed. Sure it's immersive, and combined with the lighting makes this whole show a wonder to watch, but it's also in the background, literally, a reminder that what we're watching is about more than just the music, it's a comment on the very nature of bands and playing in one in the 21st century. And it's funny, that this virtual band, completely made up, with nothing really to fix it to reality - "nothing of substance" to quote Hewlett - except Albarn and Hewlett's pen, is being watched by a room full of real people, who instead of actually experiencing the show are streaming it on Facebook Live. It's near impossible to catch a glimpse of Albarn and band except through hands raised up holding iPhones. Such is the nature of all gigs in 2017, but something feels really off about this here, people intent on capturing their presence rather than actually being present. There's the feeling in the room that this is a kind of history-making moment, that we're being made privy to an Album of the Year contender before we're supposed to. But instead of taking the time to pay attention we're swiping through our phones to make sure that Albarn and his intoxicating swagger are in focus so that we can brag about it later on Instagram.

You'd think that once it was time for encores we'd have some punters - what's the British translation of 'punter' - ready to pocket their phones and dance, but that wasn't to be, and kind of fair enough, we suppose: Kids With Guns has its charismatic rumble, De La Soul returns to the stage for Feel Good Inc, and Del The Funky Homosapien performs Clint Eastwood live with Gorillaz for the first time, or so says Albarn. Encore number two leaves us with a Don't Get Lost In Heaven/Demon Days medley, the ultra talented back-up singers given a moment in the spotlight, while all the guests from across the night are pulled back on stage to take a final bow.

Humanz is out 28 April. You know you'll buy it, or at least add it to your Saved on Spotify - our pick: Benjamin Clementine on Hallelujah Money, the album's penultimate song. At first (live) listen, it's groovy and funky and transcends hip hop and Britpop genres, but we already knew that, giving us a more apt glimpse of what music in 2017 sounds like: fierce and bold and grimy, and something to swing your hips to. But it's almost impossible to make a sound assessment of an album you've watched only once - apart from a "rewind" of Pusha T's standout turn in Let Me Out. All that can really be concluded is that the person who masterminded it is some kind of genius.

All photos by Mark Allan