De La Soul Will Join Damon Albarn At Tonight’s Sydney Opera House Shows

December 16, 2014

Blur frontman and Gorillaz mastermind Damon Albarn will take the stage twice tonight at the Sydney Opera house for back to back shows, after the tragic events that unfolded in the Sydney CBD over the past day forced him to cancel last night’s scheduled performance. As a special treat, he will be joined onstage by regular collaborators De La Soul, currently in the country for Meredith Music Festival 2014.

In light of the Sydney siege which came to an end in the early hours of this morning, the Opera House was forced to shut down and cancel all last night’s scheduled performances, including Albarn’s show which was to be his Sydney Opera House debut.

Existing tickets for the Monday evening Damon Albarn show are valid for tonight’s 7:00pm show in the Concert Hall, while the original start time of 8:00pm for tonight’s original performance has been rescheduled to 9:30pm.

De La Soul are, of course, responsible for the rap verses in Gorillaz’s most famous tune, Feel Good Inc, so we can probably expect a performance of that song tonight. Additionally, Albarn will be accompanied by Melbourne MC Remi and the Southern Gospel Choir and String Quartet, who both appeared with the Blur frontman at his recent Melbourne show.

Albarn will perform with his new live band The Heavy Seas, which includes Seye Adelekan and Jeff Wootton on guitar, Pauli The PSM on drums and Mike Smith on keyboards, in celebration of the recent release of his critically acclaimed new solo album, Everyday Robots. These Sydney Opera house shows are part of the summer program for Music at the House.

Last Friday night, just prior to his Melbourne show, a weary and jet-lagged Albarn was interviewed on Channel 10’s The Project and was clearly distracted and likely disinterested through the entire painful segment. The most animated the musician got during the interview was when he was asked by host Waleed Aly about his interested in mime. “That’s bollocks,” said Albarn. “I’ve never had a mime class in my life. Who propagated that?” Watch the video below.

Ticket-holders unable to attend tonight’s rescheduled performance may request a full refund by emailing bookings@sydneyoperahouse.com no later than 3:00pm today, Tuesday 16 December 2014, with a copy of their tickets either scanned or photographed as defaced by strikeout lines and the word “VOID”. Ticket-holders can also call the Opera House on +61 2 9250 7777 for detailed instructions.