Hello,

This was a final warm-up for Blur before they play at Glasto on Sunday,and I think it's safe to say that they've got the show that they were after.

They received a fantastic and boisterous recption from a Friday-night crowd that was standing on the floor,which only adds to the atmosphere,which apart from anything else was humid and hot:a nice work-out for all us forty-somethings,hah-hah!

Blur can play alright-Graham Coxon is rightly acknowledged as a guitar slinger-but for these shows they have a keyboard player,brass section and backing singers as some of their songs demand it.
Think of 'Tender' (still a beauty to all sing along to) or 'Parklife' (yes,that is Mr. Phil Daniels-a top turn!) and you can imagine why they extra troops are necessary.

As I own only 'Parklife','The Great Escape','Blur' and '13' I wasn't familiar with everything that the band threw at us during the 110 minutes,but they pretty much nailed everything that I did know.Very pleasing,hah-hah!You might be surprised at how many decent tunes they have.

Albarn was a sweaty bundle of kinetic energy-nobody could accuse him of dialling this one in.A little way in he delivered a short tribute to MJ,and reminded us all that what you may read in the redtops isn't always the gospel.
He also remembered that when the band were together in the late 80's there was only one cool place to be...oh yes-Manchester.The crowd loved all this,and DA then half-apologised for the blatant bandwagon-jumping "There's No Other Way":he does a sense of humour!
He also changed a line in 'The End Of A Century' to read,
"Sex on the TV
Everybody's at it
The mind gets dirty
As you get closer to fifty...",complete with a knowing grin.

He loves getting involved with the punters and was working the crowd line loads,as well as one bona-fide stage dive.Good value,is DA.

At times Coxon seemed in a guitar world of his own but he isn't above arseing around either,at one point giving it some 'Tap' playing on his back.Alex James is not only a decent bassist but also a decent bloke,according to recently unearthed 'friend-of-a-friend-who-knows-him' anecdotal evidence.
This leaves the Cuprinol-esque Dave Rowntree on the drums:yep,he knows what he is doing too.

I don't suppose Blur will record new material but I'll be interested if they do:in the meantime,I really enjoyed this burst of (recent) yesteryear.























Cheers,

Si.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2009-06-27 12:36 by SimonN.