Gorillaz - Skinny Ape 

December, 2022 

Gorillaz have been a fixture in my musical life since I was a teenager. I always loved the music videos and the creation of entirely new animated characters rather than the traditional band. They were pioneering a creative idea with emerging technologies, their live shows are full of virtual production elements to provide fans with the characters throughout the live shows as well as their premade music videos. It was therefore no surprise, especially off the back of Damon Albarn's collaboration with the National Theatre on some VR work, that the new Gorillaz single Skinny Ape would be dropping alongside an AR live show. 

The show was released ion the 8th of December in Piccadilly Square, London and Times Square, NYC. You downloaded an app on your phone and then watched as the members of Gorillaz in giant form took over the capital city's to perform their new single. They were standing or sitting on various buildings and you could move your phone around to view different bits of the action. The app also came with the handy ability to take photos or videos so you could have mementos like any real life gig. 

I think this is the beginning of a really interesting sector of AR work, especially for a band like Gorillaz who's members, although the music is played and created by real people, is represented by animated figures. Imagine one day where you could go to a Gorillaz gig and they had Abba-Voyage Style avatars on stage who could perform the whole show to you as if they were real. Alternatively I can see many bands using this technique to take over non traditional spaces, and spaces that would be expensive to use as gig, and tuning them into non invasive venues. 

I would like to see more from it, it was limited to one song, which you can only listen to and watch so many times, and the action of the characters, although dynamic was quick static in terms of moving to different places, they all stayed on their specific spot and didn't interact much..

The Skinny Ape app is still available to download and watch, and you can either watch it on site, or from the comfort of your own home, but the home experience is definitely diminished.