By Daniel Paiz

Gorillaz “The Mountain Tour” brings catharsis to Denver as the Gorillaz, Little Simz, and Deltron 3030 performed before a packed Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado. The UK’s famously animated band made their first appearance in the Mile High City since 2022, and fans were ecstatic to see Damon Albarn and company return.

This tour has a bit more focus than the 2022 World Tour, as The Mountain Tour focuses on the 2026 album, as well as core ideas of grief, life, death, and how they all interact. Before the headliners converged on the stage, the openers had some jams of their own to warm up this sprightly crowd.

Openers

Deltron 3030

What’s impressive about this trio of Hip-Hop veterans is how consistent they are. Kid Koala scratches actual vinyl like clockwork. Dan the Automator programs, deejays, and interacts with the crowd like the band leader. Del the Funky Homosapien is poised and ready to drop rhymes like it’s breathing and gets the crowd going as well.

“Mastermind”, “3030”, and “Virus” all made appearances as expected. “3030” and “Mastermind” had some scratching from Kid Koala that might’ve rearranged a few heads at Ball Arena. It’s a shame these guys only had around 30 minutes to perform, because there needed to be a scratch battle between Koala and the Automator. It makes sense a big tour wouldn’t spoil the audience with this, but this crowd would’ve loved it. The interaction between Del and Dan towards the end of “Mastermind” had a fair number of fans fired up.

Fans also were spoiled with a performance of “Centuries”, a new track featuring the lead singer from Death Cab for Cutie; their next album is expected to be released in 2027.

Little Simz

Simz was the wildcard of the night, primarily due to a relative newness compared to the other announced acts on this tour stop. “The Mountain” tour is their second visit to Denver, and this crowd reflected that towards the beginning of the set. Simz delivered their lines brilliantly and won over the crowd as the set progressed.

“Point and Kill”, “Free”, and “Woman” were the best received of this also fairly short set for Little Simz. “Selfish” was performed very well, but it felt like a slight gamble with the push for crowd interaction. The attempts were sincere, but this crowd seemed to not have bought in yet for the London rhymer. However, these attempts might have spurred on the crowd. When a song received the spoken word treatment prior to being performed, the crowd was hanging onto every word.

Sims also commanded the crowd during their bouncy “Garage Palace” collab with the Gorillaz during the headlining set.

Headliner

Gorillaz (brief prelude)

This tour is focused on a variety of themes: grief, death, life, resiliency, and the connections amongst them all. Also, celebrating life and death is key to this tour and album as well. Both Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett lost their fathers around the same time. Both men also ventured to India, and those two things grew “The Mountain” album now present. The Gorillaz have been touring the album since Spring of 2026, and they brought along a slew of artists and rappers.

For those who have not attended a Gorillaz concert before, the premise is simple. All of their discography is fair game, though their newest songs are featured the most and are scattered throughout. If there’s a favorite of yours and it’s one of their most streamed songs, it too likely makes the show. Things get interesting though because in different cities, different artists get featured. Detroit might get a member of D12, London gets a collaborator that was on the newest album, and the rest of us still likely get somewhere between one and a half a dozen rappers.

Gorillaz (Denver tour stop)

Bootie Brown of The Pharcyde pops up for “Dirty Harry” and “Stylo”, Del the Funky Homosapien rocks the mic for both “Clint Eastwood” and “Rock the House”, and Pos of De La Soul spoils fans with appearances on both “Superfast Jellyfish” and the closer “Feel Good Inc.”. Wait a minute, let’s rewind here to the top of the set. “The Mountain” and “Happy Dictator” were the opening tracks, and it felt like a listening party with 19,000 fellow fans.

The rest of their extensive catalog made all kinds of fun appearances. The energy spectrum was well represented, with performances of “Tranz” and “Rhinestone Eyes”, to “On Melancholy Hill” and “The Sad God”. One of the more thoughtful things that Albarn does for his setlist is strike a very solid balance between the well-known stuff and the deep dive stuff. Casual fans can expect to know the encore, while diehards will get fed in between tunes considered to be flag-bearing songs for this group.

The primary guest star for Denver’s stop was EarthGang (for the “Opium” collab). Little Simz (for “Garage Palace”) also had a surprise appearance, although previous stops also showed this song being performed. Kara Jackson also made a cerebral appearance for the bittersweet “Orange County” performance.

The ebb and flow of changing moods throughout the set were orchestrated so well. “The Mountain” is an album focused on how life and death are interconnected. Everyone has to celebrate the life of a loved one after death and continually process that grief and range of emotions after they are no longer here. On top of all that, one simultaneously works to try and hold onto the memories and impact they left on you.

Life is hard in general, and balancing such efforts with the realities of everyday life begins to paint a picture of how some folks buckle under it all. That’s why this music is for every aspect of life; there are songs from the Gorillaz for the highest of highs and darkest of lows, and a tour like this is truly cathartic.

Surprise standout performer

Ajay Prasanna is a musician that might not be immediately recognizable to Denver or US Gorillaz fans. However, his addition to this tour might be the most understated and underrated portion of the show. The layers, the gravity, the weight of the sounds of the bansuri are immediate and immaculate. The sounds and melodies are beautiful and haunting. Albarn’s addition of Prasanna for this album and tour is sublime.

Not every song has the bansuri added to it. This makes it even more impactful because it never has a chance to get overused. Adding this to an impromptu back-and-forth during the start of Clint Eastwood was just as impactful as the intro for the set’s opening song The Mountain.

Essentially, this group presents before audiences a musical puzzle in terms of how well these band members fit together.

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Encore: recognition of band members

The band members of Deltron 3030 are Dan the Automator (DJ, vocals), Kid Koala (DJ), and Del the Funky Homosapien (emcee/vocals).

Little Simz consists of Little Simz (emcee/vocals), Marla Kether (bass), Mark Mollison (guitar), Hasmon Abraham II (drums), and Amane Suganami (keyboards).

The band members of The Gorillaz are Damon Albarn (vocals, piano, melodica and more), Mike Smith (backing vocals, piano), a dynamo vocalist committee of Michelle Ndegwa, Angel Silvera, Rebecca Freckleton, and J. Appiah, Seye Adelekan (bass, vocals), Ruth O’Mahony Brady (keyboard, piano), Jaega Mckenna-Gordon (drums), Karl Vanden Bossche (drums, percussion), and Jeff Wootton (lead guitar). Ajay Prasanna (flute/bansuri) is not considered an official band member, but he seems to be on a majority of the tour.