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 album	Plastic Beach
Start date	3 October 2010
End date	21 December 2010
Legs	4
No. of shows	37 19 in North America 11 in Europe 6 in Oceania 1 in Asia
Gorillaz concert chronology

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 (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

• Bashy – rap on "Clint Eastwood" and "White Flag"
• Kano – rap on "Clint Eastwood" and "White Flag"
• Mos Def – rap on "Stylo" and "Sweepstakes" (select dates only)
• Lou Reed – guitar and vocals on "Some Kind of Nature" (New York City and Los Angeles only)
• Bobby Womack – vocals on "Stylo", "Cloud of Unknowing" and "Demon Days"
• Neneh Cherry – vocals on "Kids with Guns" (select dates only)
• Bootie Brown – rap on "Dirty Harry" and "Stylo"
• MF Doom – rap on "Clint Eastwood" and "November Has Come" (select dates only)
• Miho Hatori – vocals on "19-2000" (select dates only)
• Yukimi Nagano – vocals on "Empire Ants" and "To Binge" (select dates only)
• De La Soul – rap on "Feel Good Inc." and "Superfast Jellyfish"
• Daley – vocals on "Doncamatic" (select dates only)
• Mark E. Smith – vocals on "Glitter Freeze" (select dates only)
• 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

Opening acts

• We Are Wolves (Montreal)
• N.E.R.D. (North America)^[2]
• Little Dragon, De La Soul (Europe, Asia & Oceania)^[3]

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."^[4]

Setlist

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

Songs performed^[5]

Gorillaz "Tomorrow Comes Today" "Clint Eastwood" "Punk" "19-2000" Demon Days "Last Living Souls" "Kids with Guns" "O Green World" "Dirty Harry" "Feel Good Inc." "El Mañana" "November Has Come" "Dare" "Don't Get Lost in Heaven" "Demon Days" D-Sides "Hong Kong"

Plastic Beach "Orchestral Intro" "Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach" "White Flag" "Rhinestone Eyes" "Stylo" "Superfast Jellyfish" "Empire Ants" "Glitter Freeze" "Some Kind of Nature" "On Melancholy Hill" "Broken" "Sweepstakes" "Plastic Beach" "To Binge" "Cloud of Unknowing" "Pirate Jet" Bonus tracks/non-album songs "Doncamatic"

Tour dates

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

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

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

1. "Gorillaz - The Fall (Parlophone) Review". NME. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
2. 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. Sources for shows in Europe, Asia and Oceania:

   • All except where noted: "Gorillaz Rearrange UK Tour To Coincide With 'Plastic Beach' World Tour & Tickets". Stereoboard. 22 July 2010. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
   • Antwerp: "Gorillaz et dinosaures" (in French). La Libre Belgique. 31 August 2010. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
   • 1st Paris date: "Date supplémentaire pour gorillaz au zénith de paris!" (in French). sortiraparis.com. 5 August 2010. Retrieved 21 November 2021.
7. "Gorillaz reschedule Dublin Date". GoldenPlec. 23 July 2010. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
8. "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. "Current Boxscore". Billboard. Archived from the original on 11 January 2011. Retrieved 30 August 2022.