October 2026
By Sebastian De Jesus Nunez, staff reporter
On February 27th 2026, Gorillaz put out their ninth studio album titled “The Mountain” to much critical acclaim, and later, a successful ongoing tour, which stopped at Austin’s very own Moody Center on October 15th, 2026.
The Mountain and its meaning
The Mountain takes our favorite virtual band members, Murdoc, 2-D, Noodle, and Russell, on a cathartic, exciting, and new experience in the unfamiliar setting of India. This album uses traditional Indian instruments like the star-striking Sitars heard on tracks like “The Mountain” and “ The Empty Dream Machine”, to the breathtaking sounds of the Bansuri, played by the well-revered flutist Ajay Prasanna in tracks like “The Moon Cave” and “ The Happy Dictator”, and blends them with the electrifying, hip-hop, synth-pop sound we associate with Gorillaz. The album also features multiple artists, including Black Thought, Trueno, and IDLES’ lead singer, Joe Talbot.
The album’s concept emerged after a series of family tragedies, personal loss, and trips to India by Gorillaz co-creators Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett.
The initial seed was planted in late 2022 when Jamie Hewlett’s mother-in-law suffered a stroke and fell into a coma while visiting Jaipur. Hewlett flew out to Jaipur and spent a few weeks there while his mother-in-law recovered. Despite the less-than-ideal circumstances, Jamie fell in love with the area and later suggested that Damon and he take trips to India to create music, but on one of those trips, Damon and Jamie’s fathers passed away within ten days of each other. This became a major source of inspiration for the new record, and it made the theme clear to Jamie and Damon.
Damon later traveled to scatter his father’s ashes in the Ganges River to honor his father’s deep love of Indian culture. These trips to India changed Damon and Jamie’s perspectives on death and grief; they found that Indian culture celebrates the lives of those who have passed, rather than to mourn in the traditional, sad way thatwestern culture had accustomed them to.
Paying tribute to deceased collaborators
The themes of death, renewal, and celebration don’t just stop at Damon and Jamie’s personal losses. The Mountain features multiple posthumous tracks from artists who had collaborated with the virtual band. The list of these collaborators include Bobby Womack, Dennis Hopper, Mark E. Smith, Proof, Tony Allen, and Asha Bhosle, who died two months after the album’s February release.
Although most people don’t condone posthumous features, almost everyone was glad Gorillaz handled it respectfully and honorably. As Jamie puts it, “These features were a way of ‘paying homage’ to the lovely people who contributed to Gorillaz.”
The Mountain Tour live at Moody Center
Following the success of this record, Gorillaz set off on their UK and Ireland tour in March, which ended in June of this year, and picked back up with their North American tour on September 17, 2026. This past Thursday, October 15th, The Mountain tour sold out Austin’s Moody Center, drawing 15,000 attendees eager to see the show.
The atmosphere was intense, yet welcoming. Many attendees dressed like their favorite band members, and everyone seemed happy to see Gorillaz return after their last tour in 2022. The band was supposed to play additional concerts in Austin in 2023, but due to scheduling conflicts and other factors beyond their control, they had to cancel multiple dates on their “Getaway” tour following the release of ‘Cracker Island’.
Openers like Little Simz, and Deltron 3030 kept the energy up while we waited for Gorillaz to take the stage. As the lights began to dim and the (digital) curtain began to lift, the crowd roared and anticipated the beginning of this magical show.
Damon Albarn took the stage at 8:50 and finished the cult-classic-filled set at 10:30. The setlist consisted of multiple songs from The Mountain, such as The Happy Dictator, Orange County, Casablanca, and others, but also some Gorillaz essentials such as Dirty Harry, 19-2000, White Light, Andromeda, Kids With Guns, and many others. The encore of the show features Gorillaz’s most iconic tracks like Feel Good Inc. and Clint Eastwood.
This show was truly magical and a once-in-a-lifetime experience. We hope to see Gorillaz return to Austin sometime in the future, as talks about a tenth album have been going around, confirmed by Damon and Jamie themselves on a radio show just weeks before The Mountain’s release, stating, “We’ve already got an idea for the next album, which will have us going to another place we have never seen before.”
