Damon Albarn has joked about playing Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as a Chelsea F.C. fan.
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In March, Gorillaz will head out on a UK and Ireland tour that includes a one-off headline show at London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on June 20 (find any remaining tickets here). It comes in support of their upcoming album, ‘The Mountain‘, which will be released on March 20.
Ahead of the album’s release, Albarn and co. appeared on The Graham Norton Show on Friday (February 13), where they performed the single ‘Orange Country’ alongside Bizarrap, Kara Jackson and sitar player Anoushka Shankar.
Following the performance, Albarn joined the sofa, where he made a dig at rival football team, Tottenham Hotspur. Norton mentioned Gorillaz’s upcoming gigs, asking Albarn specifically about their stop at the 62,850-capacity venue: “You’re doing your biggest ever gig, I think? Tottenham Hotspur Stadium?”
The Chelsea F.C. supporter then jokingly responded: “A large music venue in North London, yeah”, refusing to outright mention the team’s name.
Fans on X/Twitter have compared the moment to when Oasis – famous Manchester City supporters – played Old Trafford Stadium, but had tickets read “Lancashire County Cricket Club” to avoid naming their rival team Manchester United’s home ground.
You have to listen hard but Damon Albarn is having a pop at Spurs 😁⚒️ https://t.co/A7IUjY1wgn
— West Ham Images (@HamImages) February 14, 2026
He’s a Chelsea fan so he’d say that, Oasis played Lancashire County Cricket Club in 2002, refused to have the words “Old Trafford” on the ticket. pic.twitter.com/qLKydgZXPn
— John Gould (@johngouldis) February 14, 2026
Before the Tottenham gig, the band will also play some warm-up shows in Bradford, and from there will make stops at numerous European festivals over the summer, including Electric Picnic, Primavera Sound Barcelona and Porto, and Rock Werchter. Visit here for tickets.
‘The Mountain‘ has so far been previewed by six singles: ‘The Hardest Thing’, ‘Orange County’, ‘The God Of Lying’ (featuring Idles), ‘The Happy Dictator’ (feat. Sparks), ‘The Manifesto’ with Trueno and late D12 member Proof, and ‘Damascus’.
The latter features Syrian superstar of Bedouin music Omar Souleyman and rapper/singer Yasiin Bey (FKA Mos Def), and was also given a live preview at the huge Together For Palestine charity gig at Wembley Arena, organised by Brian Eno last year.
Other artists who have joined Albarn and Jamie Hewett for the record include Black Thought, Asha Puthli, Asha Bhosle, Gruff Rhys, Paul Simonon, Johnny Marr, The London Arab Orchestra, Demon Strings, Chris Storr, James Copus and Matthew Gunner.
Last year, Albarn opened up about how the record was partly inspired after both he and Jamie Hewlett lost their fathers and went to India to cope with the grief.
“I did things I’d never done before. I swam in the Ganges in Varanasi. I watched the bodies being burnt on the banks of the Ganges. I took my dad’s ashes there and I cast them in the river. It was very beautiful.”
In other news, next month, Albarn will be performing on Saturday Night Live for the first time with Gorillaz. They’ll take to the stage of the iconic show on March 7, with Ryan Gosling as host.
