Gorillaz In The (Blue) Mist

Oh dear. It seems Gorillaz front man Damon Albarn has managed to upset the nazifunpolice anti-smoking lobby.

Damon had a crafty fag on stage at the Wedgewood Rooms in Portsmouth. He's a rockstar - it's sort of 'what they do' Back in the day when tellys were really heavy, some rockstars lobbed them out of hotel windows.

But Damon has incurred the Wrath of ASH and their spokeswoman Amanda Sandford. Amanda, rather chillingly, said the following

"There can be no excuse for that as it is an indoor place and the law is very clear. We are not allowed to smoke on stage unless it is relevant to the act. It is not just illegal but more importantly it is about the message it sends out to fans."

It's that last sentence about being on message that concerns me. The people who paid to watch Damon perform were at a Gig Amanda. They went their to listen to music, not to your politics or your message.

What would you like to really see Amanda? All artists pre-briefed by ASH and it's Stormtroopers before performing thus ensuring they 'stay on message'

Smoking itself isn't illegal Amanda, although we are all aware you and your facist cohorts wish it to be. I like to think Damon was bang on with his message - which I imagine is somewhere along the lines of 'bore off you tedious Nazi, get yourself a life and get fucking laid too you uptight miserable old cow'