Gorillaz welcomed Palestinian activist Aarab Barghouti to the stage at Primavera Sound, where he introduced the band ahead of their performance.
Damon Albarn and the rest of the group performed on the Estrella Damm stage at the Barcelona festival on Saturday night (June 6), inviting Barghouti to address the audience before the show began.
Barghouti is the son of Marwan Barghouti, a Palestinian political figure who served as an elected legislator and has often been viewed as a potential future leader. He has been imprisoned by Israel since 2002 following convictions connected to deadly attacks during the Second Intifada. Marwan Barghouti has repeatedly denied involvement in those attacks and has disputed the authority of the Israeli court that convicted him.
Speaking to the crowd at Primavera Sound, Aarab Barghouti said: “My father is one of 10,000 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, but for millions of Palestinians he represents something that Israel cannot imprison: hope.”
“Hope that Palestinian children will grow up in peace,” he continued. “Freedom won in South Africa, in Ireland, and in Algeria, because people like you refused to look away, refused to give up. So keep fighting for Palestine, for Gaza, and for justice.”
Massive Attack had originally been due to perform at Primavera on Thursday night (June 4), but their appearance was cancelled along with several other sets because of severe weather conditions.
The band’s Robert Del Naja later shared a backstage photograph with Barghouti from the festival and wrote: “The one moment of light during the Primavera storm was sharing time with our guest Arab Barghouti, who we’d invited to speak on behalf of his father Marwan to appeal for his release.”
Albarn has frequently spoken in support of Palestinian rights over recent years. Last September, he appeared at the Together For Palestine event in London, which was organised by Brian Eno. During the show, he performed a selection of traditional Palestinian songs alongside the London Arab Orchestra and the Juzour Dance Collective. Gorillaz also performed ‘Damascus’, a track that was later featured on their recent album ‘The Mountain’.
In other Gorillaz news, the band recently announced their first ever concerts in India, scheduled for January 2027. The country's musical heritage and spiritual culture played a major role in shaping the sound and themes of ‘The Mountain’.
Albarn has also revealed that he is composing music for Luca Guadagnino’s upcoming OpenAI inspired film, Artificial, which focuses on the founders of ChatGPT. Discussing artificial intelligence, he said: “Once it becomes easy, it’s meaningless. In a way, it’s the things you don’t see or hear that make it art. It’s a weird intuition that the listener has that picks up on the journey that the artist has been through to make that particular thing with the tone of the voice, etc. You can’t replace that.”
