O2 Arena holds first full capacity event since March 2020
Gorillaz returned to the stage with a free concert in London for NHS workers and their families to thank them for their sacrifices during the pandemic.
The virtual band, created by Blur’s Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett, performed at the O2 Arena on Tuesday – their first gig in front of a live audience since October 2018.
Concert-goers were required to show a negative COVID-19 test to attend the gig – which was the O2’s first full capacity live event since March 2020.
It was a free concert for NHS workers and their families. Pic: Luke Dyson
Gorillaz celebrated their more than 20-year career with a setlist spanning their seven albums.
They also invited a star-studded cast of collaborators to the stage including The Cure’s Robert Smith, former Joy Division and New Order star Peter Hook, rapper Slowthai and Shaun Ryder of the Happy Mondays.
It was the band’s first gig in front of a live audience since October 2018. Pic Luke Dyson
It comes after most COVID restrictions on large gatherings in England were lifted last month, paving the way for a return to live music.
The coronavirus pandemic had a profound impact on the band’s latest album, Song Machine Season One: Strange Timez, both logistically and artistically.
Albarn, who worked on the band’s seventh collection throughout lockdown from his second home in Devon, told Sky News in October: “That anxiety is inevitably in it, that we all share.
Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett, along with their cartoon creations Noodle, 2D, Murdoc and Russel. Pic: Gorillaz/Michael Leckie
“You’ve got to allow music to continue… We are trying to preserve everyone’s health at the moment so passionately, we mustn’t ignore live music in that prescription.
“If people are willing to perform, they should be allowed to, no one should be forced to do anything but if people are willing then somehow we can make it work so everyone can feel comfortable and participate.”
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Gorillaz will return to the O2 on Wednesday for a sold-out show.
Irish-language rap group Kneecap have announced a surprise London show, hours after one of their members was charged with a terror offence.
Liam O’Hanna, or Liam Og O Hannaidh, was charged with displaying a flag in support of Hezbollah, a proscribed organisation, at a concert in London last November, the Metropolitan Police said on Wednesday.
Just hours later, Kneecap announced on their Instagram account that “we’re back”, adding that they would perform at the 100 Club on Oxford Street, London, on Thursday night.
The post also included a quote by former Sex Pistols vocalist John Lydon, who told ITV’s Good Morning Britain the rap trio “maybe (…) need a bloody good kneecapping” after footage of the band allegedly calling for the deaths of MPs emerged.
Kneecap performing in Belfast last year. Pic: PA
Kneecap apologised to the families of murdered MPs last month, but said footage of the incident at their concert had been “exploited and weaponised”, adding that they “never supported” Hamas or Hezbollah.
The rappers had gigs cancelled after the footage emerged and politicians pushed for Kneecap to be dropped from the Glastonbury Festival line-up, with Tory leader Kemi Badenoch calling for Kneecap to be banned.
The group from Belfast in Northern Ireland is still set to headline Wide Awake Festival in south London on Friday.
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In response to O’Hanna being charged, Kneecap said that they “deny this ‘offence’ and will vehemently defend ourselves” and branded it “political policing” in a bid to “silence voices of compassion”.
The charge came after counter-terror police assessed a video said to be from a Kneecap concert.
In the footage, O’Hanna is allegedly displaying a flag in support of Hezbollah at the O2 Forum in Kentish Town, London, on 21 November last year.
Officers from the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command were made aware of a video circulating online on 22 April and an investigation led to the Crown Prosecution Service authorising the charge, the force said.
O’Hanna – who performs under the stage name Mo Chara – is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 18 June.
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