By Eliot Wilder / Years ago a gang of us would consume one form or other of illicit substance and then trip on up to the Griffith Park Observatory, where we'd take in a late-night laser show that usually featured the bombastic prog music of Yes or Genesis. Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" was a crowd favorite.

The bloated sound hit you in the guts and the colored lights - which spun, danced and floated above you - transported you. At least you felt transported - after all, we were chemically enhanced.

The sold-out Gorillaz show at Boston's Avalon Ballroom wasn't all that much different an event, especially when an MC began the proceedings with, "For those of you who intend to use supplemental materials to augment your experience, pop your pills now!" I wished I had the pills to pop, because it quickly became clear that Gorillaz was best experienced while, dare I say it, high.

The members of the band, a sort of Archies for the 21st Century, were projected onto a giant scrim at the front of the stage, and their antics were quite animated - literally. What the mostly chilled-out crowd saw were 2D, Murdoc, Russel and Noodle - the renderings of Tank Girl cult cartoonist Jamie Hewlett - strutting amid a barrage of anime images and apocalyptic visions that featured robots, sinister monkeys, whirling gears and car chases. What these twisted Disney nightmare visuals had to do with anything in particular was anyone's guess, but they were eye-popping - and they would've been more so while, dare I say it, high.

Too bad that I wasn't under the influence of anything other than the songs themselves. Too bad, because without being able to engage directly with the real players in this incognito all-star group - which consists of Blur singer Damon Albarn, Dan ''The Automator'' Nakamura on decks and Cibo Matto bassist Miho Hatori among others - it was a somewhat dispassionate and mechanical 70 minutes. That's a shame, since the music itself - which melds rock, funk, dub and hip-hop - is more than mere monkey business. Tunes like ''M1A1,'' ''Slow Country," "Dracula" and ''Tomorrow Comes Today'' grooved along hypnotically, while the undulating ''Clint Eastwood,'' performed twice during the night, was a stone gas - and it would've been more so while, dare I say it, high.

All bands employ visuals in concert to one degree or another, and in some instances, like with, say, Pink Floyd, the foreboding walls, spinning rings of light and balloon pigs are a lot more arresting than the grim mug of Roger Waters. But when all you get is artifice in place of flesh, blood and sweat, as was the case with Gorillaz, it feels artificial.

Unless, of course, you are, dare I say it, high.

From Amplifier magazine