What are Gorillaz Doing in Mumbai?

It’s not every day that you see one of the world’s most popular virtual bands suddenly drop by India. As per Gorillaz‘s storyline, the group’s Murdoc, 2D, Noodle and Russel are in a hotel room somewhere in Mumbai, laying low after LAPD are on their tail for running (and destroying) a cult in Los Angeles.

The group — who just released their new album Cracker Island earlier this year — posted on social media, with a stylized photo of the animated members in a real-life photo of a hotel room, complete with Indian motifs such as religious imagery, a cobra being charmed (a bit dated, this one), local newspapers and a copy of the novel Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse. A word bubble near Russel has the singular Hindi word “लुभाना” which translates to “allure” in English.

In other photos, posted, Gorillaz band members’ new aliases were printed on boarding passes on Superfast Airways (a reference to their album “Superfast Jellyfish” off the album Plastic Beach) which had Mumbai as the destination. The caption along with these photos mentions, “The LAPD issue a search warrant for their LA mansion leaving Murdoc, 2D, Russel and Noodle with no choice but to flee to New York where they pick up fake passports from an old friend of Murdoc’s, next stop…Mumbai. Bon voyage, Stuart, Matlock, Rusty, and Nödel. सुरक्षित प्रवास”

In their two decades of global fame starting with their self-titled album in 2001, this is the first time Gorillaz — a creation of musician Damon Albarn (then just known as the frontman of Brit-rockers Blur) and artist Jamie Hewlett — have interacted with India. It’s certainly sent fans into a tizzy, with rational, plausible and wide-reaching theories alike.

Among the main, offline news that this pertains to is likely Gorillaz’s cancelation of U.S. tour dates announced just last month. Originally set for stadium and arena shows in September, the cancelation announcement reportedly went out with news that the band was facing scheduling issues. This post is perhaps a new way to package bad news in an on-brand fashion.

Fans in India and elsewhere are hoping this means that Gorillaz might be making their way down to India, either within their virtual-meets-real world which would involve collaborations with Indian artists, or a long-awaited tour or single performance. Since we’re still in June and at least a few weeks away from music festival announcements coming in for the September 2023 to February 2024 period, a live Gorillaz show in India could be a while away, even if it materializes. For now, we’ll stay tuned.

Cracker Island, which released in February this year, featured star guest artists including Tame Impala, Beck, Stevie Nicks and Bad Bunny, among others.