Coachella 2023: Guest-filled Gorillaz set brings "Feel Good" vibes

I’ve never totally understood Gorillaz.

Of course, “Clint Eastwood” is a banger and, like every younger millennial, I was practically raised on “Feel Good Inc.” But I’ve always been confused by the whole cartoon character avatars thing, and baffled why such a sonically exciting group felt the need to present themselves behind a concept that surely feels silly and probably at least a little off-putting to anyone who has aged out of Alvin and the Chipmunks.

Well, after seeing their action-packed set on the main stage Thursday, I remain as confused as ever about the necessity and value of the cartoons. After all, the real-life flesh and bone sight of singer, frontman and do-it-all superstar Damon Albarn provides plenty of spectacle all by himself.

Whether he was beating away at his keyboard, crooning into the microphone he holds like a captain on a ship or joyfully rapping along with Slowthai during “Momentary Bliss,” Albarn rarely went more than a moment before doing something that regained my attention (no small feat given the sheer number of things happening at any one time).

I found it particularly endearing to watch Albarn repeatedly wander into the crowd and shake hands with fans while surrounded by multiple security guards, whose presence somehow felt only a little silly. And oh, by the way, hearing Albarn in person gave me a whole new appreciation for the greatness of this man’s English accent.

Then, of course, there were the guests. Anyone who has even a passing familiarity with Gorillaz’s catalogue knows their sheer number of collaborations with iconic artists makes them something of a Coachellagoer's dream. And the set certainly did not disappoint on that front either, as seemingly every other track brought a fresh face to the stage, including Thundercat, Peven Everett and house music pioneer Jamie Principle.

But even a Coachella set has its limits, and I could hear some disappointed reactions around me when, for a moment, Principle seemed to suggest that Snoop Dogg would be joining him on stage for “Hollywood” only for a video Snoop to appear behind on the screen instead. The many Bad Bunny fans who also came to the set hoping for an early glimpse of their hero were also surely disappointed when they were treated only to a Gorillaz-ized avatar version of the charttopping sensation rather than the real thing.

Of course, the Bad Bunny fans were set to get their fix just hours later, but it still felt weird that Gorillaz would bother to play their hit collab “Tormenta” without him given that Bunny was likely already on the festival grounds.

It was perhaps the most predictable of the many guests, however, who also turned out to be the most poignant. When Posdnous of the hip-hop group De La Soul appeared on stage and said it was time to make his colleague Maseo laugh, the generally lackluster crowd roared with anticipation for what it knew was about to happen.

Maseo then did as he was told, letting out that iconic, roaring laugh and what had up to then been a pretty lackluster crowd suddenly came alive in a raucous scene that turned moving when a tribute to De La Soul member Trugoy the Dove, who died in February, was flashed on the screen.

It was undoubtedly the musical and emotional high point of the show, but it was nearly rivaled moments later when Gorillaz closed their show with a rousing rendition of “Clint Eastwood.”

While this energetic and exciting set was smartly light on the cartoons, it also provided the perfect argument for why it might be time for Gorillaz to ditch them altogether.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Coachella 2023: DeLaSoul joins Gorillaz for "Feel Good Inc."