Gorillaz

Sandra Bernhard may finally be back in town, but, Lord forgive me, the hottest ticket in town last night was the Gorillaz Demon Days concert at the Apollo Theater in Harlem.

On our way in, M commented on how he had never seen so many of the caucasian persuasion on 125th street, which, coming from him, is really the pot calling the kettle white. But if anyone thought that a venue was just a venue, they were in for a surprise, as Damon Albarn namechecked the legendary Apollo before the show even started, and the erstwhile Gorillaz puppets, ensconced Muppets-style in the balcony, gave a self-deprecating shout-out to Amateur Night.

Albarn proceeded to bring on special guest after special guest, like he was running all-star tribute to black performers hidden in the guise of a trendy, videogame-bluetooth-download-japanime-cartoon-oh-and-by-the-way-there's-music-too pop extravaganza. Turning away from the spot light a la Miles Davis, Albarn has successfully extended his 15 minutes of fame with Blur by reinventing himself as but one sample amidst a gorgeous bricolage of sound, both live and electric.

After an accursedly short appearance from Neneh Cherry (is this how much of her we are going to get? 2.5 minutes every decade?), the evening went on to feature several children and youth choirs, who almost stole the show from the likes of De La Soul, and the eternally flat-topped Ike Turner. Unbelievably, given how much their identity as a non-band are wrapped up in imagery, the cartoons that were meant to be projected behind the band were not working Sunday night "due to technical difficulties," It was a little disappointing, I guess, but in the end I think it ended up improving the show insofar as it had to come together on the strength of its sound, which it most definitely did.

For another opinion, check out Kelefah Sanneh's negative review in the Times. He hates children's choirs? Man, is he jaded!