Gorillaz revved up their North American tour last week and last night at San Francisco’s Chase Center, there were a lot of surprises in store. Before the next Gorillaz album, Cracker Island, comes out in early 2023, Damon Albarn and company were churning out every possible Gorillaz classic for their 20-plus years as a band at the show. Last night’s concert was nothing short of a sermon led by Albarn, as he was joined on stage by collaborators from over the years in Bootie Brown, Pos of De La Soul, Fatoumata Diawara, Earthgang, Sweetie Irie, and in his own Bay Area backyard, Del The Funky Homosapien.
Del joined Gorillaz for “Clint Eastwood” (as can reasonably be expected), but it was the other song that the Deltron 3030 and Hieroglyphics MC performed with Gorillaz that was historic. You see, on the band’s very first album, Gorillaz, Del also appeared on the popular track “Rock The House,” co-produced by Dan The Automator (who was in the crowd and got shouted out by Albarn). But surprisingly, Del had never performed the song with Gorillaz ever before. This is despite the rapper having toured the world with Gorillaz in the past many times over. In fact, the band hadn’t even performed it with any MC since 2002.
So to the crowd’s delight, Albarn announced to the crowd that they would be, “Playing a song we’ve never played before with Del.” A three-piece horn section scurried up on stage and they laid down the signature horn opening to “Rock The House” before Del — decked out in a sleek track suit — masterfully delivered the classic Gorillaz tune. It was a vibe. One of many in the more than two hour set from Gorillaz.
Watch Del perform “Rock The House” with Gorillaz above.
Gorillaz is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
