Ahead of their upcoming album, Cracker Island, Gorillaz performed in Toronto at the Raptors Arena. The band went through several of their hits, deep cuts, and fan favorites, including, their spoken word track. “Fire Coming Out Of The Monkey’s Head.”
“Fire Coming Out Of The Monkey’s Head” comes from the band’s 2005 album, Demon Days, and the spoken word portion is performed by late actor Dennis Hopper. During this past week’s Toronto performance, the band was joined by actor and comedian Matt Berry.
“I didn’t think we’d ever play this song again,” said Gorillaz lead vocalist Damon Albarn, before a man wearing a cloak arrived to the stage.
The man was revealed to be Berry, who then performed the song’s spoken passages.
Known for his work on FX’s hit comedy series What We Do In The Shadows, Berry first performed “Fire Coming Out Of The Monkey’s Head” with the band during the band’s Song Machine Live series in 2020. Though in the States, Berry is mostly known for his comedy, he is also a musician in his own right, though he doesn’t believe that Shadows has brought awareness to his music. Though, in an interview with Brooklyn Vegan, he admitted that he’s glad he is able to both act and make music.
“I don’t notice,” he said. “I’m not on social media, so I wouldn’t be aware of this kind of thing firsthand. So I don’t really notice anything like that. I’m only really interested in being able to continue to do it, that’s only ever been my main concern with it. I’m very lucky to be able to do both.”
Check out a clip of the performance above.
Gorillaz’s new album, Cracker Island, arrives 2/24/2023 via Parlophone. Pre-save it here.