Heretofore, cartoon supergroup Gorillaz had only played the rare live gig from behind a screen, but at a series of November dates in Manchester, NME reports that the band will "reveal all and take to the stage":

"Manchester is the centre of Britain, we're only ever going to do this once so it makes sense to do it somewhere in the middle of the country," explained Albarn of the shows. "London gets all the gigs. It's time to do something a bit different to readdress the balance. We're very excited to be getting all the guests artists together in one place for these shows."

The shows will be used to promote the planned Manchester International Festival, scheduled for 2007, and will feature many of the band's Demon Days collaborators, including Roots Manuva and Shaun Ryder.

Personally, I'd rather see the cartoons.

Telltale

USA

May 2004

SEP 19, 2005 09:47 PM

Yeah, agreed. The cartoon personae are much cooler.

MegaloMatthew

San Francisco, CA

September 2005

SEP 19, 2005 09:48 PM

FUCK! why don't I live in Manchester?!?!

XXkeekeeMeowXX

Royal Oak, MI

January 2004

SEP 19, 2005 10:01 PM

2007? i'll be there, from detroit to represent, i'm sure i'll be able to work that out.

acetracer

Hollywood, FL

January 2004

SEP 19, 2005 10:42 PM

This is going to be like when KISS took off the makeup

Marigold

SUICIDEGIRL

Spain

SEP 19, 2005 10:48 PM

lame. you can't just create a facade and readily give it up so easily.

NinjaTech

Minneapolis, MN

November 2003

SEP 19, 2005 11:45 PM

Marigold said:
lame. you can't just create a facade and readily give it up so easily.

They arn't really giving it up. This isn't going to be an (inter)national tour. Demon Days is rather good and I can only assume getting all the musical talent from that one album to assemble and perform would be quite a treat.

venomkid

I'm lost

January 2003

SEP 19, 2005 11:46 PM

That's like saying "I'm gonna make my famous recipe without any spices this time."

It might work, it's not likely.

Tawnya

SUICIDEGIRL

California, USA

SEP 20, 2005 12:00 AM

I'm still disappointed they ever told us who they are. I mean, what's the point of having these characters if we know who's behind them? Then again, I'm still pissed that Kiss took off their makeup - ever.

abracadabra

Seattle, WA

April 2004

SEP 20, 2005 12:04 AM

Will the Residents be outed next ? What is this world coming to ?

JohnnyForeigner

United Kingdom

July 2003

SEP 20, 2005 12:08 AM

Tawnya said:
I'm still disappointed they ever told us who they are. I mean, what's the point of having these characters if we know who's behind them? Then again, I'm still pissed that Kiss took off their makeup - ever.

... but everyone knows who's behind them anyway

MistahPrince

Chicago, IL

February 2005

SEP 20, 2005 12:46 AM

Their show in Chicago a couple years ago was fantastic. It worked out far better than I expected.

Tawnya

SUICIDEGIRL

California, USA

SEP 20, 2005 01:14 PM

Burning_In_Water said:

... but everyone knows who's behind them anyway

Yes, but speculation with out any actual proof is fine. They have told us, flat out, who they are. The Residents are the only ones who have done this properly.