Rave review of Gorillaz at Boomtown

[Johndenis]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/conce ... -may-have/

Glastonbury 2010 was a sore one for Damon I expect, but since then he has really cracked how to present Gorillaz live...

[stalemate9]

I would like to have seen Gorillaz but couldn't miss Soulfly.

[TommyS]

This set was off the chain, one of the best live acts I have ever ever seen

[Matt - Ed Banger Records]

Odd, I was in a group of 15 or so and all of us found the set really boring, I think we were all fairly casual observers, but even people I spoke to afterwards in the campsite echoed my thoughts that it was really plodding - I really wanted to like it too but just couldn't get into it at all. 

[stuie]

We walked up and found the field so full it was impossible to get anywhere where the sound was decent enough.

We left it until the last minute though so not complaining. 

There were still hundreds of others on the way up as we walked back down though.

[Sasperella]

22 minutes ago, Matt - Ed Banger Records said:

Odd, I was in a group of 15 or so and all of us found the set really boring, I think we were all fairly casual observers, but even people I spoke to afterwards in the campsite echoed my thoughts that it was really plodding - I really wanted to like it too but just couldn't get into it at all. 

I actually wasn't even intending to go...but so glad I did! Have been playing Gorillaz a fair bit since I got home too (which never happens). Maybe we were just in a good spot?

[vintagelaureate]

I'm not an avid Gorillaz fan - I couldn't really tell you many of their songs past the first two albums - I thought the set started really well. We were quite close to the front but I left to go and catch some of Enter Shikari, I went back after and there was definitely an issue with sound at the edge of the bowl. 

[Sku]

I would describe myself as a casual Gorillaz fan. I know the first couple of albums pretty well, but only semi-well beyond that. I've never seen them live before.

I also found the set to be dull. I know they probably suffer a bit as a result of being a slower tempo type of act compared to usual Boomtown fare, but even given that contrast I found it unnecessarily dull. 

It took a long time to crank out the first "banger" in the form of "Dare", and it seemed to be a down tempo version compared to the recorded single. I'm not sure why you would play a down tempo version of a fairly upbeat (as far as Gorillaz go) song at a dance festival.

I stuck through the whole set waiting for the presumably epic finale. It certainly did pick up in the second half, but wasn't quite the epic conclusion I had been imagining.

It wasn't the worst live set I've seen in my life by a long stretch, but I had fairly high expectations which were disappointed

Edited August 15, 2018 by Sku

[Jackmypie]

I thought they were brilliant, one of the top performances I’ve ever seen, and I had to endure their set at Glastonbury ! 

[Sasperella]

4 hours ago, Sku said:

It took a long time to crank out the first "banger" in the form of "Dare", and it seemed to be a down tempo version compared to the recorded single. I'm not sure why you would play a down tempo version of a fairly upbeat (as far as Gorillaz go) song at a dance festival.

That's really interesting - I was thinking how it was a really uptempo dance version of the mediocrity I had been anticipating! But then I had very low expectations. So maybe thats it, combined with the location?

Edited August 15, 2018 by Sasperella

[Johndenis]

It looks to me like the set slowly increases in BPM before the encore.  Personally, I think it's a amazing set of songs - DARE, Dirty Harry, and Feel Good Inc back to back!  https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/gorillaz/2018/matterley-estate-winchester-england-43e8b3ff.html

[mr flow]

I was lucky enough to watch it from the pit in front of the sound booth, and i thought it was an amazing set. I had prepped myself for it prior to the show though, and used the tours average setlist on setlist.fm to make a spotify playlist, so i knew what to expect. I just felt they nailed it.

Although, i was tripping quite heavily, so i think the visuals also helped my enjoyment somewhat

[tjamest]

16 minutes ago, mr flow said:

I I had prepped myself for it prior to the show though, and used the tours average setlist on setlist.fm to make a spotify playlist, so i knew what to expect. I just felt they nailed it.

 

You may have used it to create your playlist, but if not Setify is a great way of doing it

[mr flow]

44 minutes ago, tjamest said:

You may have used it to create your playlist, but if not Setify is a great way of doing it

I hadn't used it, but will check this out. Thanks for the heads up

[Tommy101]

On 8/15/2018 at 4:03 PM, Sasperella said:

I actually wasn't even intending to go...but so glad I did! Have been playing Gorillaz a fair bit since I got home too (which never happens). Maybe we were just in a good spot?

So glad you and Emma enjoyed it after convincing you to come along. I got a bit drunk so it flew past but knew I had a great time.

[Sasperella]

11 hours ago, Tommy101 said:

So glad you and Emma enjoyed it after convincing you to come along. I got a bit drunk so it flew past but knew I had a great time.

You certainly seemed to be from where I was standing 

[Tommy101]

4 minutes ago, Sasperella said:

You certainly seemed to be from where I was standing 

Apparently I was singing my heart out to as much as possible. If the sound wasn't great where we were I can only apologise for what I subjected your ears to. 

[Sasperella]

1 hour ago, Tommy101 said:

Apparently I was singing my heart out to as much as possible. If the sound wasn't great where we were I can only apologise for what I subjected your ears to. 

Aaah well, if I didn't love having intoxicated strangers singing very loudly along right next to me, I probably wouldn't go to festivals 

Edited August 17, 2018 by Sasperella

[amfy]

4 hours ago, Tommy101 said:

Apparently I was singing my heart out to as much as possible. If the sound wasn't great where we were I can only apologise for what I subjected your ears to. 

Give me the 'singalongloudly' people over the 'talkallthewaythrough' people any day!

[Winslow Leach]

Strange, from where I was standing I remember noting that it was some of the best sound i've heard during a festival headline set. 

Should probably clarify that I was in something of an altered state but I thought it was pretty incredible to be honest, far better than I was expecting 

[vintagelaureate]

That was my starting place, where the sound was spot on. It was up the hill it suffered (naturally) imo.

 

[Radi0Head]

This was my spot thought the set was amazing. Gorillaz have a diversity of music very fitting for a festival like Boom. Though I did hear from others that the sound wasn't so good at the back.

[mr flow]

Damon likened the gig to the legendary Blur Glastonbury 2009 set 

 

Having been at both gigs, i wouldn't agree, but goes to show how much he thought of the gig and Boomtown though.

The Good, The Bad and The Queen as Town Centre headliners next year?! 

[mr flow]

Skip to 16mins 30 seconds to hear the Boomtown related part