Gorillaz Return to the Global Stage: Inside the 2026 Mountain Tour
After years of artistic evolution, experimentation, and anniversary celebrations, Gorillaz are preparing for one of the most ambitious eras of their career with the announcement of their 2026 world trek, The Mountain Tour. The upcoming tour marks a major new chapter for the groundbreaking virtual band, blending music, visual storytelling, and large-scale live performance in a way that continues to redefine what a concert experience can be.
The tour arrives alongside the band’s ninth studio album, The Mountain, a project that signals both reinvention and expansion for the group. Scheduled for release in early 2026 through their own label, KONG, the album represents a new level of creative independence for the band following decades of collaboration with major record labels. The record follows 2023’s Cracker Island and pushes Gorillaz deeper into global musical influences and cross-genre experimentation.
Created by musician Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett, Gorillaz has always existed at the intersection of animation, music, and culture. The fictional members — 2D, Murdoc Niccals, Noodle, and Russel Hobbs — remain central to the band’s identity, allowing the project to evolve visually and narratively while collaborating with artists from across the world. This multimedia approach has made Gorillaz one of the most innovative acts in modern music history and helped sustain their relevance across multiple generations of listeners.
The Mountain itself reflects that global philosophy. The album features a wide range of collaborators spanning genres and continents, including artists such as Johnny Marr, Black Thought, IDLES, Anoushka Shankar, and others. Songs incorporate multiple languages — including English, Arabic, Hindi, Spanish, and Yoruba — emphasizing the band’s continued commitment to cultural fusion and sonic exploration.
The 2026 tour is designed as a direct extension of the album’s themes. Beginning in early 2026, the run will take the band across major arenas in the UK and Ireland, with performances scheduled in cities such as Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow, Leeds, Cardiff, Liverpool, Belfast, and Dublin. These shows mark the group’s return to large-scale touring after a period focused on special events and anniversary performances.
Among the most anticipated moments of the tour is a massive headline performance at London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, representing one of the band’s biggest standalone concerts to date. The show is expected to transform the venue into a fully immersive audiovisual environment, combining animation, live musicianship, and cinematic staging — hallmarks that have defined Gorillaz performances for years.
Special guests also play a major role in shaping the tour’s identity. Artists Sparks and Trueno are confirmed as supporting acts for select performances, reinforcing the collaborative spirit that has always driven the Gorillaz project. Their inclusion hints at a concert experience that moves fluidly between musical styles, generations, and cultures.
The tour follows a period of renewed creative momentum for Gorillaz, including their 25th-anniversary celebrations and immersive “House of Kong” exhibition, which offered fans a deeper look into the fictional universe behind the band. These events helped bridge the gap between past and future, setting the stage for what many see as a bold new “phase” in the Gorillaz storyline.
Musically, fans can expect a setlist that balances nostalgia with innovation. Classic hits that helped define alternative pop and electronic music are likely to appear alongside new material from The Mountain, creating a performance that celebrates the band’s legacy while showcasing its forward-looking sound. The tour is positioned not simply as a promotional run, but as a cultural event reflecting the band’s ever-expanding artistic universe.
Festival appearances are also expected to play a role in the group’s 2026 live presence, further expanding their reach beyond traditional arenas. Major festival bookings reinforce the band’s enduring global appeal and demonstrate how Gorillaz continue to attract audiences across diverse music communities decades after their debut.
What makes The Mountain Tour especially significant is how it mirrors the band’s original mission — breaking boundaries between real and virtual worlds. Advances in stage production, digital visuals, and storytelling technology now allow Gorillaz to push their hybrid performance style further than ever before, blurring the line between concert, film, and immersive art installation.
Ultimately, the 2026 tour represents more than a new album cycle. It signals another evolution for Gorillaz as a living creative project — one that continuously reinvents itself while maintaining a distinct identity rooted in collaboration and imagination. As audiences prepare to experience this new era live, The Mountain Tour stands poised to reaffirm why Gorillaz remain one of the most innovative and culturally influential acts of the modern music era.
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