Gorillaz tour 'escapes' with fall concert dates for North America

Gorillaz may be a virtual band, but the news of its first-ever world tour is very real. The musicians behind the animated avatars are taking their creations on the road for a world tour that launches in North America in the fall.

The Escape to Plastic Beach World Tour kicks off with an October 3 concert at Bell Centre in Montreal, QC. The nearly 20-date North American outing wraps a month later on November 3 at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, BC, before moving on to Europe in November and then Australia and New Zealand in December.

Dates in the United States include concerts on October 8 at Madison Square Garden in New York, NY; October 16 at UIC Pavilion in Chicago, IL; and November 2 at Key Arena in Seattle, WA. Besides opening and closing in Canada, fans of the virtual band can also catch them north of the border during an October 14 concert at Air Canada Centre in Toronto, ON.

Public onsales for the tour are mostly spread between two Friday onsales -- August 6 and August 13 -- with a few later sale dates thrown into the mix in select cities. Ticket prices range from about $50 to nearly $100 for those concerts currently listed on Ticketmaster.com. More details can be found on the animated crew's official Web site.

Gorillaz already gave international fans a taste of the tour to come with a recent July 25 concert at The Citadel in Damascus, Syria. The one-off featured a live lineup led by band co-creator Damon Albarn, along with Bobby Womack, De La Soul, and former Clash members Mick Jones and Paul Simonon, as well as many other guest artists.

Fans stateside also had an early glimpse at a live Gorillaz performance back in the spring when the group headlined the final day of Coachella 2010. That performance featured the same primary line-up as the Damascus show, with the addition of singer Yukimi Nagano and the Lebanese National Orchestra for Oriental Arabic Music.

Gorillaz itinerary:
(Dates are subject to change.)