Gorillaz played an intimate warm-up show in Bradford ahead of ‘The Mountain’ tour kicking off later this month – check out the highlights below.
READ MORE: Gorillaz – ‘The Mountain’ review: a world-building ode to death and starting over
Last night (March 13), Damon Albarn and co. followed up their recent Saturday Night Live debut performance with a gig at the 3,500-capacity venue Bradford Live, which marked a first for the frontman.
“I think I wanted to see Bradford,” he told The Yorkshire Post ahead of the show, which saw the band play fan favourites alongside new cuts from the record, including ‘The Moon Cave’, ‘The Sad God’ and ‘Orange County’.
“I wanted to do something distinctively multicultural in this city because, yet again, we find ourselves in a situation where there is a tendency to overgeneralise and pigeonhole people in a negative way, happening in our culture.
“In fact, in culture generally, ghosts that we thought we’d vanquished and cast out have come back again. I was just interested in the culture of Bradford and it turns out you’ve got this amazing renovated space. It’s absolutely beautiful.”
The gigs come in support of the band’s latest record ‘The Mountain‘, which is heavily shaped by Indian music and culture, something Albarn said informed their decision to play the warm up gig in a city steeped in South Asian heritage.
“I think that was definitely another reason for our orientation towards this neck of the woods,” he said.
Setlist from Gorillaz warm‑up show in Bradford, night 1 pic.twitter.com/xYQ095tWQr
— Damon Albarn Unofficial (@DamonUnofficial) March 13, 2026
A new version of O Green World@gorillaz in Bradford, night 1 pic.twitter.com/u2qPnNi0vB
— Damon Albarn Unofficial (@DamonUnofficial) March 14, 2026
Pretty mind-blowing to get to see @gorillaz play at @Bradford_Live last night, the first of two intimate warm-ups before their ‘The Mountain’ UK arena tour kicks off next week! pic.twitter.com/V0JlmkGJNo
— Jack Fermor-Worrell (@JFW_Music) March 14, 2026
Proud of the Gorillaz live band (can’t help being silly) pic.twitter.com/N9Gnz50iWU
— Damon Albarn Unofficial (@DamonUnofficial) March 14, 2026
The band are set to return to Bradford Live tonight (March 14) shortly before kicking off their UK and Ireland arena dates in Manchester on March 20 – you can find any remaining tickets for the rest of the tour here.
They’ll also play a huge gig at London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium next summer, and perform at numerous European festivals, including Electric Picnic, Primavera Sound Barcelona and Porto, and Rock Werchter.
Gorillaz’ UK and Ireland ‘The Mountain’ tour dates are:
MARCH
14 – Bradford Live (second warm-up date)
20 – Co-op Live, Manchester
21 – Co-op Live, Manchester
22 – BP Pulse Live, Birmingham
24 – OVO Hydro, Glasgow
25 – First Direct Arena, Leeds
27 – Utilitia Arena, Cardiff
28 – Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham
29 – M&S Bank Arena, Liverpool
31 – SSE Arena, Belfast
APRIL
01 – 3Arena, Dublin
02 – 3Arena, Dublin
JUNE
20 – Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London
As aforementioned, much of Gorillaz’ new album was recorded in India during a time when both Albarn and Jamie Hewlett were travelling to find peace after the passing of their fathers, and the record finds their cartoon counterparts similarly on a journey around the world in pursuit of “mystical music making”.
In keeping with the record’s theme of death and healing, it features several guest voices from beyond the grave, including Afrobeat percussion legend Tony Allen, The Fall’s Mark E. Smith, D12 rapper Proof, Dennis Hopper, Bobby Womack and De La Soul’s Dave Jolicoeur.
Others to make appearances include IDLES, Sparks, Yasiin Bey (FKA Mos Def), Gruff Rhys, The Clash’s Paul Simonon, Anoushka Shankar and Johnny Marr.
In a four-star review of ‘The Mountain’, NME wrote: “‘The Mountain’ is an album that celebrates the love you leave behind, the people you touch, the spirit of giving more than you take, how we’re all the same when it’s done. As Albarn puts it ‘Orange County’: “I’m not your enemy, your atoms gone, you stand alone, and everything you gave to someone you love – that’s the hardest thing”.
The post Watch Gorillaz play intimate Bradford warm-up show for ‘The Mountain’ tour: “I wanted to do something distinctively multicultural in this city” appeared first on NME.
