Damon Albarn's had as triumphant a twelve months as almost any breathing being of late, embracing best bud Graham Coxon on London door steps amongst roll-up fag smoke before outshining a voluptuous full moon at the end of a muddy, ruddy ruckus of a weekend at Glastonbury, before topping everything off with a surefire UK number one record with Gorillaz' trip-hop treasure chest Plastic Beach this week. Oh, and then he'll be taking his self-processed decently turned-out band over the pond to round off this year's Coachella. Whilst ginormous London gigs are promised, his troupe of cartoon tyrants will take a back seat in a couple of weeks as Albarn hauls down the canvases and road tests his newly-assembled electric orchestra for a string of open rehearsal shows, as it were across England. Rumoured to include the likes of Paul Simonon (bass baron who along with Albarn counted amongst the ranks of The Good, The Bad & The Queen) and Mick Jones of Clash infamy the stint will offer a perversely stripped perspective on the cartoon coup of the century.The "band" play the following six shows:
March 21: Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms
22: Bristol Trinity
23: Cambridge Junction
25: Brighton Old Market
26: Birmingham Irish Centre
27: Lincoln Engine Shed
Tickets went on a secret(ish) sale this morning to G-Club members, Gorillaz' long-awaited fanclub. Slightly more substantial info can be found here.
