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 experience" throughout its American leg. The album was released in late December 2010 to fan club members, and physically in April 2011. We Are Wolves, N.E.R.D., Little Dragon and De La Soul shared duties as opening acts.
Production
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."
Setlist
The following setlist was 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.- "Orchestral Intro"
- "Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach"
- "19-2000"
- "Last Living Souls"
- "O Green World"
- "Stylo"
- "On Melancholy Hill"
- "Rhinestone Eyes"
- "Superfast Jellyfish"
- "Tomorrow Comes Today"
- "Kids with Guns"
- "Empire Ants"
- "Dirty Harry"
- "El Mañana"
- "White Flag"
- "To Binge"
- "Dare"
- "Glitter Freeze"
- "Plastic Beach"
- "Cloud of Unknowing"
- "Feel Good Inc."
- "Clint Eastwood"
- "Don't Get Lost in Heaven"
- "Demon Days"
Tour dates
Cancelled shows
| 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 |
Live band
- 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
- Simon Tong – lead guitar
- Cass Browne – drums, drum machine
- Mike Smith – keyboards
- Gabriel "Manuals" Wallace – drums, percussion
- Jesse Hackett – keyboards
- Wendi Rose - Choir direction and backing vocals
- Bashy – rap on "Clint Eastwood" and "White Flag"
- Kano – rap on "Clint Eastwood" and "White Flag"
- Mos Def – rap on "Stylo" and "Sweepstakes"
- Lou Reed – guitar and vocals on "Some Kind of Nature"
- Bobby Womack – vocals on "Stylo", "Cloud of Unknowing" and "Demon Days"
- Neneh Cherry – vocals on "Kids with Guns"
- Bootie Brown – rap on "Dirty Harry" and "Stylo"
- MF Doom – rap on "Clint Eastwood" and "November Has Come"
- Miho Hatori – vocals on "19-2000"
- Yukimi Nagano – vocals on "Empire Ants" and "To Binge"
- De La Soul – rap on "Feel Good Inc." and "Superfast Jellyfish"
- Daley – vocals on "Doncamatic"
- Mark E. Smith – vocals on "Glitter Freeze"
- Roses Gabor – vocals on "19-2000" and "Dare"
- Members of Syrian National Orchestra for Arabic Music – orchestration on "White Flag"
- The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble – brass on "Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach", "Broken", "Sweepstakes" and "Plastic Beach"
- Demon Strings – strings