Gorillaz are streaming their entire performance from Syria last Sunday via NPR.org.
The all-star line up at the Citadel gig in Damascus featured Plastic Beach guests De La Soul, Kano, Shaun Ryder of The Happy Mondays, Bashy, ex-Clash pair Mick Jones and Paul Simonon, the National Orchestra For Arabic Music, Bootie Brown of The Pharcyde and Bobby Womack. Syrian rapper Eslam Jawaad also joined the band onstage for an Arabic take on the hit 'Clint Eastwood'. Jawaad met Damon Albarn in London and worked briefly with The Good, The Bad and The Queen, and is credited with bringing Gorillaz to Damascus in the first place.
The band also performed singles 'Stylo', 'On Melancholy Hill', 'Dare' and 'Feel Good Inc', during their set. Following a rendition of 'Dirty Harry', Albarn spoke to the crowd: "I just want to explain really briefly why we're here having this fantastic experience. I came [here] 15 months ago and met a beautiful guy Issam [Rafea] who works with the Syrian National Orchestra For Arabic Music, we made a lot of music together and it was a real turning point, and spending time here in Syria really opened my mind."
You can listen to the whole thing here
Gorillaz recently rescheduled a large portion of their upcoming European tour, including their Dublin show at the O2 which now takes place on November11th, to make space for some new US dates.
