Gorillaz is a cartoon band led by a guy named 2-D who happens to sing remarkably similar to Blur frontman Damon Albarn, which may have something to do with the fact that Albarn co-created Gorillaz and does most of the singing, but Albarn made the connection between the two bands a bit more obvious this weekend at the Gorillaz Demon Dayz Festival in California. As reported by Mxdwn, Albarn began playing a funky, Gorillaz-style version of the Blur hit “Song 2" during the encore, and then he brought out Blur guitarist Graham Coxon to join him for a more traditional take of the song.
Albarn told the crowd it was a “cross pollination” of the two bands, and Rolling Stone notes that it was the first time Gorillaz has covered a Blur song live. In the real world, it seems like a pretty cool stunt for fans of Albarn’s two big musical acts, but in terms of the Gorillaz canon, this is wildly confusing. Does Damon Albarn exist in the Gorillaz universe where 2-D is doing the writing and singing? If so, what’s the connection between Blur and Gorillaz? Hell, are live Gorillaz shows even canonical with the story that is (very loosely) told in the albums?
Are we overthinking this and nobody actually cares? No, it can’t possibly be that.