It had already been a big week of parties for Sydney city. The highlight of one being the awesome power of The Claw, and the highlight of another other being Hugh Jackman smacking his head into a lighting rig. Still, we turned out in force to see Gorillaz in what looked to be a sold-out Entertainment Centre on Thursday night.

Opening this festival of sound was Swedish band Little Dragon followed by the almighty De La Soul . De La’s high energy set was unfortunately over all too soon, spending only half an hour on stage. However hip hop faithful do not fret. Maseo, Posdnuos and Trugoy will be back early next year for the De La Soul is dead 20th anniversary tour.

As their time on stage was short and sweet they quite rightly kept it to a mostly favourites set including Ring Ring Ring, Me, Myself and I and Saturday but managed to throw in a couple of welcome surprises like Blind Date and Stakes Is High along the way. In between songs there was a little bit too much “Party over here, Fuck you over there” audience involvement, especially considering it was such a short set. However these three guys are some of the best in the business when it comes to starting a party and had the whole Entertainment Centre on their feet, including those who had seats.

Imagine a concert bill that reads Blur, The Clash, Womack and Womack, De La Soul and The Pharcyde, plus guests. Condense all of that into a single hour and a half long set, then put your hands together for Gorillaz!

Starting out as the world’s first animated band, you are within your rights to assume The Gorillaz are going to be somewhere near the top of the pile when it comes to concert visuals. They did not disappoint. Via a towering video screen we were greeted by a visual of Murdoch, the Gollum-like lead singer staring out into the audience and muttering some disapproving comments to the rest of his animated band.

Directly beneath the big screen one letter at a time slowly illuminated G.O.R.I.L.L.A.Z spelled out in iridescent blue, giving light to the first few members of the band who had made their way on to the stage. An eight-piece horn squad The Chicago Hypnotic Brass Ensemble stood to the left of stage. While behind them sat the best looking string section since The Corrs, consisting of nine girls decked out in nautical themed uniforms, the journey to Plastic Beach had begun.

Welcome To The World of the Plastic Beach began to play as we were greeted by a three storey tall Snoop Dogg on the video screen doing his parts of the song, then “ohhh…just like that” the rest of the 26-piece Gorillaz ensemble took to the stage. An enormous start to what would be an enormous set.

Their previous record Demon Days got a look-in next as they played Last Living Souls. We then delved back even further into the catalogue with 19-2000 from the first album. Accompanying the song being played by the band, was the original and still ultra-cool clip playing out on the massive screen behind them. Gorillaz ringleader Damon Albarn was just getting his voice warmed up through the first two songs before the first real belter of the night.

You could feel the energy in the room pick up as the first notes from Stylo were punched out across the venue, accompanied by the songs video clip which features Bruce Willis on screen. Mos Def wont be gracing our shores until early next year so his parts of the killer track were handled by Bootie Brown of the Pharcyde, spitting verses into a two-way radio receiver being used as a mic.

Stylo was also our first encounter with another of the big name guests Bobby Womack. So on-point was Womack it was hard to pick wether we were hearing the CD or witnessing this live, a trend that would continue for the duration of the show. On Melancholy Hill lived up to its name, creating a feeling as if that is exactly where you were. Albarn seemed to assert himself through the next track Rhinestone Eyes, his voice starting to really take charge of his band as he took up his rightful place centre stage, standing on one of the fold-back speakers to give himself some extra height at the front.

De La Soul were welcomed back to the stage for Superfast Jellyfish,, followed by Tomorrow Comes Today. Before another guest who had performed earlier in the night also returned to the stage, Little Dragon singer Yukimi Nagano performed her parts from Empire Ants with Albarn. A little lady with a big voice, her quirky dance moves make her beautiful to both watch and hear as they deliver a note-perfect rendition of the song from Plastic Beach.

Each letter of the illuminated Gorillaz sign at the back of the stage changed to various different colours; green, purple, blue and red. While from the darkened screen 14 pairs of animated eyes stared back out into the audience. The familiar opening chords to Dirty Harry then set the venue alight, as beer and god knows what else rained down from the thrown cups of over-excited fans. The eyes on the screen are revealed to be a cartoon version of the children’s choir that handle most of the singing duties in the song.

Albarn then talked for a little while on how honoured he had felt to be the first pop band to have been allowed to play in Damascus, Syria. This was his lead in to introducing the Syrian National Orchestra, who played an extended version of the traditionally Middle Eastern sounding opening to White Flag . Gorillaz touring guitarists Paul Simonon and Mick Jones of The Clash looked as though they were having an absolute ball in front of the Sydney crowd, running and spinning around the stage. Albarn also joined in the onstage antics, twirling a massive white flag along to a video on screen of a similar image. Two English MCs came out to do the verses which end the song in an extremely high energy fashion. Yukimi Nagano came back to the stage, and the audience was given a chance to catch their breath during the slower tempo To Binge.

_“Comin’ up, comin’ up, comin’ up…IT’S DARE!” And with that the audience was again on the receiving end of a beer shower, as all hands and seemingly everything in them again went skyward. Shawn Ryder did his part via the video screen as the song’s clip played in sync with the band. The set then shifts up yet another gear as we are given a truly rockin’ version of Punk, a slightly different tune to what would now be considered the regular Gorillaz sound. As the name suggests, this track follows a punk formula, except using clapping in place of the “oi oi ois”. It was clearly noticeable how at home with the style Albarn is, as he delivered a deliberately messy, yet oh-so tight version for the crowd.

The set proper was rounded out with the extremely catchy title track Plastic Beach . This song would again see the majority of the huge band re-assemble on stage as they prepared for an incredible finish. At the end of Plastic Beach Albarn thanked the audience and left the stage. First song of the encore saw Bobby Womack back centre stage. This time sitting on a stool, while black and white visuals of war scenes play out behind him. He gives us a hauntingly beautiful version of Cloud of Unknowing, as the crowd maintain a silence. A silence which is torn apart by what sounds like a thousand screams when Maseo is brought back to the stage and lets rip with the opening “ha ha ha ha ha” to the massive hit Feel Good Inc . This is followed by another crowd pleaser in the form of Clint Eastwood. At this point it’s fair to say to audience lost their proverbial shit, jumping around almost as much as Albarn and his band were on stage.

The closer was the ethereal Fire Coming Out of the Monkey’s Head. Complete with visuals on the massive screen of animated stained glass, The Entertainment Centre now more closely represented a church. Our singer took up his place centre stage, complete with arms-outstretched, Jesus Christ pose. The congregation below him were now collectively praying at the altar of Albarn. It was a surreal way to end what was an amazing performance. Let’s hope they are back on our shores soon.