On a balmy, wet September Friday night in Miami, the Gorillaz came pounding into the Kaseya Center on the second night of their U.S. tour, which will feature 23 dates.

The tour kicked off in Orlando, the night before.

In Miami, almost immediately, shit got weird.

They took the stage around 9:15 p.m., opening with “The Mountain,” their latest album and the name of the tour.

An animated sequence unfolded across the massive screens. It felt like The Jungle Book dropped into some dystopian Japanese anime after taking psychedelics.

Then out walked Damon Albarn wearing army fatigues and a red beret.

The Cuban Revolution? In Miami? Okay.

(He wore the same outfit in Orlando but with a green beret).

So began what was less a traditional rock concert than some bizarre, evolving multimedia organism. Gorillaz are technically a “virtual band,” famously created by Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett around animated characters who originally obscured the humans behind the music.

Twenty-five years later, the humans are totally visible.

Gorillaz Review Miami

At various points Friday night, the stage was populated by a small army of musicians, singers and collaborators while Gorillaz’s animated universe exploded behind them.

Japanese-style animation collided with pop-culture debris, psychedelic visuals and one unhinged purple creature who looked like Beaker from The Muppets, as if, but grown up, crazy hair and after years in the lab he became Oppenheimer – he had his finger on an Algorithmic Atrophy bomb.

Yes, fun, zany stuff! Why? Who cares. That’s Gorillaz.

Their show is theatrical, cinematic and strange.

It drifts and lulls occasionally, which isn’t a bad thing.

They aren’t interested in delivering two straight hours of bangers. There are valleys so people can sit down and breathe.

Then they drop “Feel Good Inc.” and the building explodes.

Gorillaz are a great live band. They’re also one of pop music’s best bridges into hip-hop. Over the years, Albarn has consistently brought rappers into the Gorillaz universe, often rappers who deserve more eyeballs than they receive elsewhere, but get the most through this universe.

Friday night that included Del the Funky Homosapien, the beautifully idiosyncratic Bay Area rapper whose relationship with Gorillaz stretches back to their jump. Watching Del emerge for “Rock the House” and then “Clint Eastwood” was a major highlight of the night.

Bootie Brown (the Pharcyde) came out for “Dirty Harry,” another reminder that Gorillaz collaborations aren’t celebrity cameos pasted onto songs. They’re part of the band’s DNA.

Can’t forget De La Soul on Feel Good, Inc.  They weren’t in the house, but forever R.I.P. Trugoy – yogurt spelled backwards.

Anyway, by the encore, the whole Gorillaz experiment made sense. A virtual band is now a massive live band. Cartoons have become theater. Alternative rock has collided with hip-hop, electronic music, funk and whatever else Albarn feels like throwing into the blender.

Twenty-five years (crazy) into this experiment, Gorillaz are still climbing their weird little mountain.

And Miami happily climbed along with them.

Click here for setlist from Miami show.