Escape to Plastic Beach Tour

The Escape to Plastic Beach Tour was a concert tour by the British alternative rock virtual band Gorillaz in support of their third studio album Plastic Beach. During the tour, Damon Albarn recorded The Fall, described by Albarn as a "diary of [his] experience" throughout its American leg. The album was released in late December 2010 to fan club members, and physically in April 2011.[1]

Escape to Plastic Beach Tour
Tour by Gorillaz
Location
  • North America
  • Europe
  • Asia
  • Oceania
Associated albumPlastic Beach
Start date3 October 2010
End date21 December 2010
Legs4
No. of shows
  • 37
  • 19 in North America
  • 11 in Europe
  • 6 in Oceania
  • 1 in Asia
Gorillaz concert chronology

Live band

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  • Damon Albarn – lead vocals, keyboards, piano, acoustic guitar, melodica
  • Paul Simonon – bass guitar, background vocals
  • Mick Jones – rhythm guitar, background vocals
  • Jeff Wootton – lead guitar (Certain dates)
  • Simon Tong – lead guitar (replaced Jeff Wootton on certain dates)
  • Cass Browne – drums, drum machine
  • Mike Smith – keyboards
  • Gabriel "Manuals" Wallace – drums, percussion
  • Jesse Hackett – keyboards
  • Wendi Rose - Choir direction and backing vocals

Guest collaborators and additional musicians

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Opening acts

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Production

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The Escape to Plastic Beach Tour also featured new music videos and visuals on the big screen in the background while band members played up front. Visuals accompanied such songs as "Broken", "Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach", "Dirty Harry", "Empire Ants", "Last Living Souls", "White Flag" and many others alongside the original music videos for the group's previous songs.

The poster used to promote the tour was highly influenced by the theatrical poster for the 1969 Sam Peckinpah western, The Wild Bunch.

The tour was later noted by Albarn to be an extremely costly endeavor; in a 2013 interview with Rolling Stone, Albarn explained: "I made about 20 pounds by the end of it, so I won't be going on another of those. It was incredible fun, I loved doing it, but economically it was an absolute fucking disaster."[4]

Setlist

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The following setlist is obtained from the concert held at the Bell Centre in Montreal, on 3 October 2010. It is not a representation of all shows on the tour.

Bell Centre, Montreal
  1. "Gorillaz in Dressing Room Part 1" (visual intro)
  2. "Orchestral Intro"
  3. "Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach" (with The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble)
  4. "19-2000" (with Roses Gabor)
  5. "Last Living Souls"
  6. "O Green World"
  7. "Stylo" (with Bobby Womack & Bootie Brown)
  8. "On Melancholy Hill"
  9. "Rhinestone Eyes"
  10. "Superfast Jellyfish" (with De La Soul)
  11. "Tomorrow Comes Today"
  12. "Kids with Guns"
  13. "Empire Ants" (with Little Dragon)
  14. "Gorillaz in Dressing Room Part 2" (visual interlude)
  15. "Dirty Harry" (with Bootie Brown)
  16. "El Mañana"
  17. "White Flag" (with Kano & Bashy)
  18. "To Binge" (with Little Dragon)
  19. "Dare" (with Roses Gabor)
  20. "Glitter Freeze"
  21. "Plastic Beach"
Encore
  1. "Cyborg Noodle" (visual interlude) / "Cloud of Unknowing" (with Bobby Womack)
  2. "Feel Good Inc." (with De La Soul)
  3. "Clint Eastwood" (with Kano & Bashy)
  4. "Don't Get Lost in Heaven"
  5. "Demon Days"
  6. "Gorillaz in Dressing Room Part 3" (visual outro)

Songs performed

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Songs performed[5]

Tour dates

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Date City Country Venue
North America[2]
3 October 2010 Montreal Canada Bell Centre
6 October 2010 Boston United States Agganis Arena
8 October 2010 New York City Madison Square Garden
10 October 2010 Camden Susquehanna Bank Center
11 October 2010 Fairfax Patriot Center
13 October 2010 Detroit Fox Theatre
14 October 2010 Toronto Canada Air Canada Centre
16 October 2010 Chicago United States UIC Pavilion
17 October 2010 Minneapolis Target Center
19 October 2010 Houston Toyota Center
20 October 2010 Grand Prairie Verizon Theatre
22 October 2010 Austin Frank Erwin Center
24 October 2010 Denver Wells Fargo Theatre
26 October 2010 Phoenix Comerica Theatre
27 October 2010 Los Angeles Gibson Amphitheatre
28 October 2010 San Diego Viejas Arena
30 October 2010 Oakland Oracle Arena
2 November 2010 Seattle KeyArena
3 November 2010 Vancouver Canada Rogers Arena
Europe[6]
11 November 2010[a] Dublin Ireland The O2
12 November 2010[b] Manchester England Manchester Evening News Arena
14 November 2010[c] London The O2 Arena
15 November 2010 Amsterdam Netherlands Heineken Music Hall
16 November 2010[d] London England The O2 Arena
17 November 2010[e] Birmingham National Indoor Arena
18 November 2010 Brighton Brighton Centre
21 November 2010[f] Berlin Germany Velodrom
22 November 2010 Paris France Zénith de Paris
23 November 2010[g]
25 November 2010 Antwerp Belgium Lotto Arena
Asia[6]
3 December 2010 Chek Lap Kok Hong Kong AsiaWorld–Arena
Oceania[6]
6 December 2010 Perth Australia Burswood Dome
8 December 2010 Adelaide Adelaide Entertainment Centre
11 December 2010 Melbourne Rod Laver Arena
16 December 2010 Sydney Sydney Entertainment Centre
19 December 2010 Brisbane Brisbane Entertainment Centre
21 December 2010 Auckland New Zealand Vector Arena

Cancelled shows

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List of cancelled concerts, showing date, city, country, and venue[11][12]
Date City Country Venue
8 September 2010 Glasgow Scotland Glasgow SECC Arena
11 September 2010 Newcastle England Metro Radio Arena
5 October 2010 Hartford United States Toyota Oakdale Theatre
19 November 2010 Milan Italy Mediolanum Forum
  1. ^ The concert in Dublin on 11 November 2010 was originally scheduled to take place on 22 September 2010 but it was rescheduled.[7]
  2. ^ The concert in Manchester on 12 November 2010 was originally scheduled to take place on 12 September 2010 but it was rescheduled.[8]
  3. ^ The concert in London on 14 November 2010 was originally scheduled to take place on 14 September 2010 but it was rescheduled.[8]
  4. ^ The concert in London on 16 November 2010 was originally scheduled to take place on 15 September 2010 but it was rescheduled.[8]
  5. ^ The concert in Birmingham on 17 November 2010 was originally scheduled to take place on 10 September 2010 but it was rescheduled.[8]
  6. ^ The concert in Berlin on 21 November 2010 was originally scheduled to take place on 17 September 2010 but it was rescheduled.[9]
  7. ^ The concert in Paris on 23 November 2010 was originally scheduled to take place on 14 September 2010 but it was rescheduled.[10]

Box office score data

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Venue City Tickets sold / available Gross revenue Ref.
Lotto Arena Antwerp 7,322 / 7,328 (99%) $516,657 [13]
Sydney Entertainment Centre Sydney 9,677 / 11,651 (83%) $950,425 [13]
Brisbane Entertainment Centre Brisbane 5,907 / 6,380 (92%) $687,449 [13]

References

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  1. ^ "Gorillaz - The Fall (Parlophone) Review". NME. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
  2. ^ a b Young, Alex (10 September 2010). "Update: N.E.R.D. to join Gorillaz on tour". Consequence. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
  3. ^ Vick, Megan (29 December 2010). "Little Dragon Preps New Album After Gorillaz Tour". Billboard. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
  4. ^ Tingen, Jonathan (28 May 2013). "Q&A: Damon Albarn on the Future of Blur, His First Ever Solo Album and Why He Doesn't Hate Oasis Anymore". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 11 June 2018.
  5. ^ "Gorillaz Tour Statistics: Escape To Plastic Beach Tour | setlist.fm". setlist.fm. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
  6. ^ a b c Sources for shows in Europe, Asia and Oceania:
  7. ^ "Gorillaz reschedule Dublin Date". GoldenPlec. 23 July 2010. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
  8. ^ a b c d "Gorillaz reveal debut UK arena tour". BBC News. 10 May 2010. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
  9. ^ "Berlin-Konzert der Gorillaz verschoben" (in German). tipBerlin. 23 July 2010. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
  10. ^ "Gorillaz en concert en novembre 2010" (in French). sortiraparis.com. 15 July 2010. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
  11. ^ "Gorillaz to play first world tour". BBC News. 22 July 2010. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
  12. ^ Gorillaz-Unofficial (22 September 2010). "Oakdale Theater, CT show cancelled (UPDATE: officially confirmed on Gorillaz.com)". Gorillaz.com. Retrieved 8 July 2010.
  13. ^ a b c "Current Boxscore". Billboard. Archived from the original on 11 January 2011. Retrieved 30 August 2022.