Gorillaz, Both Animated and Not, Perform Together for the First Time

If you need any more reason to be social distancing right now, just look at Damon Albarn — even he isn’t hanging out with his animated friends in Gorillaz. When Albarn and the band came on Jimmy Kimmel Live for a historic performance, Albarn’s first duet with a member of Gorillaz, they still kept their distance. Singer 2-D joined Albarn remotely from his own home (with, among other things, a plastic owl in the background) to tag-team the band’s recent song “Aries.” “What you’re about to see is special,” Kimmel promised beforehand, explaining, “This is the first time Damon Albarn has ever performed a duet with one of his animated pals.” Usually, the cut from Gorillaz’s Song Machine project would feature Joy Division and New Order singer Peter Hook and singer-songwriter Georgia — but after 60-plus days of quarantine, even watching a human sing with a cartoon for four minutes is entertaining.