Gorillaz

On Tuesday night I saw Gorillaz with Richard and two others from the Asperger's group. It took a bit of logistical jiggery-pokery for the four of us to actually meet up, but when we did so, the gig was well worth waiting for. We caught the tail end of De La Soul, a hip-hop act who had been around for some time and were pretty famous by all accounts - not really my cup of tea I suppose, but they did a great job of getting the audience in the mood for the main event.

And the main event was brilliant. There was just so much music. I wasn't expecting a full-blown orchestra (or anything like it) but we had a brass section at the front which included one of those crazy tuba things that fits around your body (I've just Googled it - it's called a sousaphone), a string ensemble at the back and of course guitars, drums and a keyboard. In the middle of the show we were greeted with an Arabic orchestra which was a delight to listen to. In the middle of all those instruments was Damon Albarn bouncing around manically. I guess all of this was possible because most of the line-up were guest performers. There was so much going on, including all the cartoon animation on the big screen, that at times I didn't know where to look.

There seemed to be a few underlying political messages - the tour was called Plastic Beach after all, a title that conjures up images of the BP oil spill disaster. There was a song called Super Fast Jelly Fish, or something along those lines, with pictures of greasy all-you-can-eat fast food joints and lyrics that went "you can't see it but you still want to eat it". The Auckland show was their last on a three-month tour, and unfortunately quite possibly their last ever. So I was very grateful to get the chance to see them.

I had an earlyish flight yesterday so I had a nap when I got to Geraldine; the temperature was very conducive to falling asleep. It looks like I'll be in for a hot Christmas.