Gorillaz and their all-star cast inspire hope at Margate's Demon Dayz

“It’s been a really weird week in this country,” says Damon Albarn after ‘Tomorrow Comes Today’, and he’s not wrong; “...with a real surprise, but then an inevitable bullshit outcome.” “But this is only the beginning,” he adds. “It’s going to grow.” It’s fitting that Gorillaz chose to name today’s one-day festival after ‘Demon Days’. Released in the post-Iraq invasion early ‘00s, in an atmosphere of uncertainty and anger, it was the album where the playful mask of the cartoon side-project started to slip, revealing melancholy, slyly subversive, but ultimately uplifting depths. And it’s fitting too that they should hold it here in Thanet, where 64% of voters opted for Brexit - triggering the chaos currently taking shape on the horizon - but where the revamped Margate Dreamland has played a part in revitalising one of Britain’s oldest seaside towns, run-down for many years. ‘Uncertainty leaves room for hope’ was scrawled by Albarn on the wall of his studio during the recording of ‘Demon Days’; it’s a phrase that definitely rings true today. The clarity of the concept behind ‘Demon Days’ is missing on this year’s ‘Humanz’, which with its succession of guest spots plays more like a mixtape. But that should make it ideally suited to a live setting, and most of the album’s guests are here today; a selection of supporting attractions to amuse as we queue for candy floss or a spin on the waltzers. In the Hall by the Sea, Kilo Kish dances a dizzying line between R&B, alt-pop and musical theatre, before De La Soul stir up the Main Stage crowd with daisy-age positivity and a run through ‘A Roller Skatin' Jam Named "Saturdays"’ which couldn’t fail in this heat. Kali Uchis and Vince Staples both underwhelm slightly, Staples not helped by the usual 6pm rush to the food stalls, but back in the Hall there’s a commanding set from Little Simz, mixing light (picking up a guitar for the tender ‘Interlude’) and dark (‘Dead Body’), before a vicious ‘Bars Simzson’. There’s a tough choice next, between Kano, leaning mostly on last year’s ‘Made in the Manor’ - a brass-assisted ‘New Banger’, ‘This is England’, and the apt ‘T-Shirt Weather in the Manor’ are highlights - and Danny Brown. Both are excellent, but those who make it into a near-capacity Hall for Brown are treated to ‘Dip’,‘Grown Up’ and a frenzied ‘Ain’t It Funny’ ramping up the bass, and wild-eyed intensity, to sweat-inducing levels. As fans have wandered past street food stalls, tin can alleys and chainsaw-juggling unicyclists today, black-clad figures have been silently stalking the site, holding all-seeing-eye flags and looking like an invasion from Doctor Who. They start assembling on the Main Stage, ominously tolling bells, before removing their masks. It’s Gorillaz, and they’re soon joined by Vince Staples - and Albarn - for the rousing opener ‘Ascension’. A ‘Humanz’-heavy set follows - along with airings for the recently debuted ‘Sleeping Powder’ and the brand new ‘Garage Palace’ - but there are other early highlights in the shape of a searching ‘Last Living Souls’, and ‘Stylo’ - dedicated to the late Bobby Womack - which strikes a chord here (“Sing yourself out of depression/rise above... Electric is the love”). Grace Jones is sadly absent for ‘Charger’, and there’s no sign of Noel Gallagher either, his place on a triumphant ‘We Got The Power’ taken by one Graham Coxon, but the parade of guests still dazzles: De La Soul’s Pos for ‘Momentz’, with Maseo and Dave joining for an inevitable ‘Feel Good Inc.’ ending; Danny Brown, Coxon and Kelela for ‘Submission’ and Kilo Kish, who joins Albarn - who explains that they met for only the first time three hours before - for a stunning ‘Out of Body’. Perhaps best of all are the return of Kelela for ‘Humanz’ stand-out ‘Busted and Blue’ - that particular kind of fragile, spaced ballad Albarn does so well - a re-worked ‘Clint Eastwood’, with Kano and Little Simz trading bars in place of Del tha Funkee Homosapien, and, of course, a beaming Shaun Ryder, given a hero’s welcome for ‘DARE’. It’s hard to find much to fault about Demon Dayz, and, for the time spent here, it’s easy to forget the uncertainty that surrounds us. There’s an encore, but the words echoing in fans ears as they leave, climbing off Gorillaz’ carousel and back onto 2017’s, hanging on for dear life, are the last of the main set: “We got the power to be loving each other / No matter what happens / We've got the power to do that.”