Tickets for the Brighton leg of Gorillaz’ Humanz World Tour sold out months ago, with excitement reaching fever pitch in our household due to my teenage daughter’s obsession with the band and desperation to attend her first gig (Fish Brothers don’t count).

Celebrating the band’s fifth album, Humanz, released following a five-year hiatus, Damon Albarn’s collaborative crew put me in mind of my debut gig at her age – The Clash’s 16 Tons tour at Portsmouth's Guildhall promoting ground-breaking double album London Calling.

Albarn had his own Simonon and Strummer sandwiching him on stage at the Brighton Centre – Seye Adelekan (bass) and Jeff Wootton (guitar) – with poses out of the Mick Jones handbook and a righteous noise worthy of the last gang in town. Kicking off with M1A1, Mike Smith’s stunning musical direction meant the set had the thrust of a well-oiled machine unhampered by a dizzying array of superb rap, soul and r 'n' b artists who rotated on guest vocals.

The rapid delivery propelled incredibly powerful renditions of Super Fast Jellyfish and a wonderfully theatrical Sex Murder Party, and while Albarn himself didn’t waste too many words on the audience he constantly engaged with them, making eye contact with the packed hordes on the floor while not forgetting those in the cheap seats rattling their jewellery.

With a thumping backbeat from Gabriel Wallace (drums) and Karl Vanden Bossche (percussion), encore highlights included Kids With Guns and “the hit” Clint Eastwood. By that time – with the incredible six-piece choir getting some time in the spotlight and a superdelic light show accompanying Jamie Hewlett’s trippy animations of the “real band” (the cartoon apes) – Gorillaz were as much Pink Floyd as Sandinista-era Clash.

And as far as the elder members of the Cooper household are concerned, praise doesn’t come any higher than that.