An open letter to the management and members of Gorillaz

Just to warn you folks there isn't much in the way of music review or such in here, but if you love live music then I suggest you read on as you may find it of interest. I'm going to attempt not to moan or be unnecessarily rude or vulgar because I don't want to devalue the points I'm trying to make.



Earlier this year trip rock 'virtual band' Gorillaz released their third album 'Plastic Beach'. Now to make it clear this album is nothing short of fantastic. It's beautifully composed and flows in a way that arguably no album this year has. In fact I picked the lead single 'Stylo' as my song of the year so far in an blog entry earlier this month. The band announced a UK tour for September and on the basis of this fantastic album I splashed out £100 on two standing tickets. Now £100 is a lot of money but I have a passion for live music and believed that Gorillaz would be worth a £50 price tag based on their work on 'Plastic Beach'.

Then the band stepped in to replace U2 as headliners at Glastonbury. People scoffed that they weren't a big enough band to headline the Pyramid Stage. I simply told them that I had faith that they would eat their words. After watching their Glastonbury performance on BBC2 and 4 I was extremely excited for the show. Their performance was musically flawless. Not only that but Damon Albarn had stepped out of the shadows of his cartoon 'virtual band' and was performing the songs exposed to the music world. While in London last week (after winning iTunes Festival tickets) a friend told me he was jealous that I would get to see two members of the Clash onstage at the Gorillaz show (Mick Jones and Paul Simonon make up part of the live band at the upcoming shows as well as at Glastonbury in June). This certainly seemed to be gearing up to be a must see show.

A world tour was announced yesterday (22nd July). Hidden amongst all the new dates and news (including a new show in Brighton) read the following:

Due to new tour routing the Gorillaz live shows at Glasgow SECC on September 8th, Newcastle Metro Arena on September 11th and Milan Forum on November 19th are to be cancelled. The Gorillaz “Escape to Plastic Beach” World Tour will now sail into Dublin on the 11th November, Manchester on the 12th, London on the 14th and 16th, Birmingham on the 17th, with a last show in Brighton on the 18th before heading to Berlin (21st), Antwerp (22nd), Paris (23rd) and then “down under”.

Read that first sentence again. Due to new tour routing? What exactly does that mean? Are the North East of England and Scotland closed in November? Motorhead among others have announced full UK tours in November so that can't be it. As of writing Gorillaz have no scheduled dates in September up on their website. They have however announced North American dates for October. It's probably facetious of me to ask if the band are walking/swimming to America and need the month head start. However there has been no reason given for the move other than 'new tour routing'.

Now obviously I understand that schedules can change and bands often need to reschedule or even cancel dates and tours. U2 as we mentioned earlier had to pull out of Glastonbury this year which I imagine was just as horrific for them as it was their fans. But in nearly every instance where something like this happens (and it is sadly often due to ill health) everything is done to reschedule dates. It just seems to me in the heat of all this exciting world tour news that the band and their management seem to have forgotten that there's actually human beings north of Manchester. Now the music business seems to have this form of geographical amnesia too as many bands and artists proudly proclaim their massive UK tour will call at... London, Manchester and Birmingham! Newcastle has always been a great city for live music. Just think back to well before my time when venues like the Mayfair were still around. Don't forget about Scotland either. That's not just a city you music types. It's a whole country! Places like the Barrowlands Ballroom ooze music history out of their pores. Yet these cities often get left out by the biggest live acts.

Many bands get it right. Kiss for example announced the big three and a scattering of other dates late last year. The band however listen to where the fans want them to play and added several more dates to their 'Sonic Boom Over Europe' tour including Newcastle and Sheffield. They didn't need to reschedule (although I understand this is sometimes a necessity) and they didn't need to cancel any shows. They simply made the tour longer. The resulting gig at the Metro Radio Arena last May was THE best show I've ever seen in that venue.

So why have Gorillaz chosen to cancel dates? Are any of the band members ill? It doesn't appear so but I'll happily give my apologies if this is the case and wish them a speedy recovery. Some have speculated low ticket sales for the Glasgow and Newcastle shows as a reason. To be honest we'll probably never know if that is the case but I don't believe that to be the case. Ticketmaster have offered refunds or tickets to the nearest show in... Manchester including National Express coaches to and from the show. While I am appreciative of Ticketmaster's attempts to help disappointed fans it seems all in vain. So now if I want to see Gorillaz I have to pay for my coach and possibly even a hotel on top of the initial £50 for a ticket. Would it be worth it to see their live show? Very probably but it's something I'm not prepared to do.

If the suspicions of both myself and the many fans who bought tickets to the Newcastle and Glasgow shows (as well as Milan. Poor guys there doesn't appear to be any Italian date at all!) are correct then we've been passed over for the promise of greater things elsewhere on tour. Simply put because the band are playing America, Australia and Hong Kong among others they don't need or even want to play here. Perhaps that's a slightly over emotional response but there will be many many fans who feel this exact way. My friend Mark who was due to come to the Newcastle show with me called the band 'money hungry'. Some of the comments from fans on their Facebook page echoed similar sentiments. (If you see your comment on here and want it taken down do get in touch)

"Gutted you've cancelled your Glasgow gig. How come you didn't schedule new gigs around your confirmed ones? Shame on you. No i wont be paying another £ 64 pounds for me and my partner to travel by coach to the MEN. I already travelled to Birmingham in March to see you guys. Totally disgusted!"

"This is what you get when you don't download your music and buy it legally, so much for supporting the artist. I think I'll spend my money on more worthy things than the Gorillaz machine."

"Glasgow cancelled? Bastards. No way I'm getting on a "discounted" bus to bloody Manchester. And if it's cos of low sales what the fuck do you expect when you're charging £50 a ticket for all standing!!"

As of writing there is no apology for the cancelled dates on their site. Just the paragraph I quoted before. So what happens now? Well for those who do get to go in November I hope you have an awesome time. I still believe that they will put on an amazing show but the lack of thought to their Scottish, Italian and Northern English fans would make me think twice about ever going to see them live.

This link is a Facebook group set up by those who would have been attending the cancelled dates. Please join even if you aren't a fan of Gorillaz but are a fan of live music or are still going to a rescheduled date. I don't expect them to play. I would however like them to explain themselves and tell the truth- even if that is as ugly as we all think it is.

Cheers