The year 2026 marks one of the most ambitious eras in the history of Gorillaz, as the genre-defying collective returns with a brand-new global project built around their ninth studio album The Mountain and an accompanying live experience titled The Mountain Tour. More than just another concert run, the tour represents a creative reinvention — blending music, storytelling, visual art, and global collaboration into a unified artistic statement that continues the band’s legacy of innovation.
Formed by Damon Albarn and visual artist Jamie Hewlett, Gorillaz have always existed at the intersection of animation and reality, and this new era pushes that concept even further. After decades of reshaping alternative music through experimentation, the band enters 2026 with renewed creative momentum, proving once again why they remain one of the most culturally influential musical projects of the modern era. The Mountain Tour arrives not simply as promotion for an album, but as an immersive extension of the fictional universe surrounding 2-D, Murdoc Niccals, Noodle, and Russel Hobbs.
At the heart of the tour lies The Mountain, officially scheduled for release on 20 March 2026, the band’s first album released via their own label, KONG. The record is described as an expansive sonic landscape made up of layered instrumentation, diverse voices, and rhythm-driven experimentation that reflects Gorillaz’s long-standing collaborative ethos. Featuring fifteen tracks, the album brings together an extraordinary lineup of contributors spanning multiple genres and cultures, reinforcing the project’s global identity.
The album itself was recorded across an unusually wide geographic range, including London, Devon, Mumbai, New Delhi, Rajasthan, Varanasi, Ashgabat, Damascus, Los Angeles, Miami, and New York. Songs are performed in five languages — Arabic, English, Hindi, Spanish, and Yoruba — emphasizing the international scope of the project and its thematic exploration of connection across cultures.
Musically, The Mountain expands Gorillaz’s signature hybrid sound by combining alternative rock, electronic production, hip-hop, orchestral influences, and traditional instrumentation from various regions. Collaborators include Johnny Marr, Anoushka Shankar, Black Thought, Omar Souleyman, Sparks, Kara Jackson, Gruff Rhys, IDLES, and several renowned classical and global musicians. The result is an album positioned as both experimental and deeply emotional, exploring themes of loss, renewal, spirituality, and personal transformation.
The Mountain Tour begins shortly after the album’s release, launching on 21 March 2026 in Manchester before traveling across major arenas throughout the UK and Ireland. Confirmed stops include Birmingham, Glasgow, Leeds, Cardiff, Nottingham, Liverpool, Belfast, and Dublin, culminating in a massive headline stadium performance at London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on 20 June 2026.
Live performances are expected to combine new material with career-spanning classics, continuing Gorillaz’s reputation for visually immersive shows that merge animation, live musicianship, and cinematic stage design. The stadium finale in London is positioned as one of the largest productions of the band’s career, featuring special guest appearances from Sparks and Argentine rapper Trueno, while Trueno also joins selected arena dates earlier in the tour.
The tour follows a period of renewed fan excitement sparked by exclusive performances and exhibitions tied to the band’s evolving narrative universe. Critics and audiences have continued to praise Gorillaz for remaining creatively relevant decades into their career, with recent live appearances described as both visually spectacular and musically adventurous.
New music released ahead of the album has further fueled anticipation. Singles such as “The Manifesto,” featuring Trueno and archival contributions from Proof, showcase the album’s spiritual and introspective direction, described by the band’s fictional drummer Russel Hobbs as a “musical meditation infused with light.” The songs highlight Gorillaz’s continued willingness to experiment while maintaining emotional depth and storytelling.
Industry observers have already named The Mountain among the most anticipated albums of 2026, placing Gorillaz alongside some of the biggest global releases of the year. The anticipation reflects both nostalgia for the band’s earlier eras and curiosity about how their evolving artistic identity continues to reshape contemporary music culture.
Beyond music, The Mountain Tour represents another step in Gorillaz’s ongoing mission to redefine what a live concert can be. Their performances traditionally blur the boundary between fictional characters and real musicians, combining animation, large-scale visuals, and collaborative guest appearances into a hybrid art form that feels closer to multimedia theatre than a conventional rock show.
Ultimately, The Mountain Tour stands as a celebration of longevity, experimentation, and global creativity. More than twenty years after changing the music industry with a virtual band concept once considered impossible, Gorillaz continue to evolve — climbing new artistic heights while inviting audiences worldwide to join them on a journey that merges sound, story, and imagination into one unforgettable live experience.
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