Gorillaz, the genre-bending virtual band project co-created by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett, is hitting the road in support of their new album The Mountain, with a highly anticipated stop at Kia Forum in Inglewood on October 24, 2026. A second Southern California date at Pechanga Arena San Diego on October 25 extends the run for fans on both sides of the county line.
As Clash reports from the current UK arena run, the band is treating the new tour as a full-scale spectacle rather than a standard rock show. Multi-tiered staging, hand-drawn visuals, and a rotating cast of collaborators transform the arena into what the review calls an old-school Hollywood musical. Early shows in Cardiff and Nottingham have already showcased a two-hour set that moves fluidly between new material from The Mountain and deep cuts from a catalogue now spanning a quarter-century.
For SoCal fans, the timing is especially resonant. The tour lands as the project marks its 25th anniversary since the self-titled debut Gorillaz arrived on March 26, 2001. Spin notes that the band has somehow remained unmoored from any single era, with music elastic enough to wrap around whatever moment we’re living through. That durability has been on display throughout the current run, where longtime followers stand shoulder-to-shoulder with teenagers discovering tracks like “Clint Eastwood” and “Feel Good Inc.” for the first time.
What to Expect from the Live Show
The production leans heavily into the visual language that has always defined Gorillaz. As Under the Radar observed in Nottingham, animated backdrops and on-screen characters punctuate the biggest hits, while the live band—now hailed as one of the tightest units the project has ever assembled—fills the space with sound that spans rock, dub, hip-hop and more. The setlist is reportedly stacked from the outset, easing in with the woozy, Indian-inspired title track “The Mountain” before quickly turning kinetic.
Collaborations are central to the architecture of the show. UK dates have already welcomed Super Furry Animals’ Gruff Rhys, De La Soul’s Posdnuos and Yasiin Bey (formerly Mos Def) for favorites like “Superfast Jellyfish” and “Stylo.” The Pharcyde’s Bootie Brown has been a regular presence on “Dirty Harry,” detonating some of the night’s biggest reactions, while Argentine rapper Trueno has been warming up the room with a high-energy thirty-minute support set that commands genuine headliner energy.
New songs from The Mountain are also making a seamless transition into the live show. According to Under the Radar, the band is playing roughly eleven tracks from the latest record, each accompanied by its own animated vignette. Standout cuts like “The Empty Dream Machine” and “Delirium” have been singled out for their cinematic staging, while lead single “Damascus” has already found a natural place alongside the band’s most iconic songs.
Why It Matters for LA
For Southern California audiences, the Kia Forum and Pechanga Arena dates represent a rare chance to catch Gorillaz indoors with the full visual onslaught dialed up. As Clash notes from Cardiff, the arena setting allows the project’s immersive design to feel fully realized, collapsing the distance between animated world and live performance. It’s a particularly good fit for Los Angeles, where film, animation and music routinely intersect.
Editorially, the timing of this tour also feels significant. Spin argues that Gorillaz have long functioned as a kind of musical guide, lighting up when it feels like we’re drifting into dark waters. Bringing that sensibility to Inglewood and San Diego in late 2026 offers a communal space for a multigenerational crowd to reflect on the quarter-century since the project first appeared, and where it might be headed next.
What Happens Next
With the UK leg now in full swing and a US television appearance on “Saturday Night Live” already under their belts, Gorillaz are set to bring the The Mountain tour to North America this fall. The confirmed back-to-back nights at Kia Forum and Pechanga Arena suggest a production calibrated for large-scale rooms, with tickets expected to move quickly given the band’s infrequent touring schedule and the strong early word of mouth from Europe.
As of now, no additional Southern California dates or special guests have been announced. Fans looking to catch the full spectacle—new songs, animated interludes and the occasional surprise collaborator—should plan around the October 24–25 window. Given the breadth of the setlist and the sheer scale of the production, these two nights are likely to be among the most talked-about live events in the region this fall.
Last updated April 03, 2026.
Sources: Clash Magazine, Spin, Under the Radar
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