The most “must see” headlining act at this year’s T in the Park, can anyone possibly not be interested in seeing the reformed Blur perform as they bring the festival to a close? Well, apart from Mogwai that is...
Formerly leaders of the Britpop bratpack, Blur went their separate ways after the difficult production process for 2003’s final album Think Tank.
By its completion guitarist Graham Coxon had left to take refuge in his own solo career, and though remaining band-mates Damon Albarn, Alex James and Dave Rowntree trudged through a subsequent tour it just wasn’t quite the same.
With all four members back together and apparently in good spirits, all's well again, and we can finally stop having to put up with third-rate knock-offs like The Kaiser Chiefs. (If they can predict a riot, hopefully they can also see the end of their useless careers coming any moment soon...)
Blur will forever be associated for those heady Britpop days, when they reigned triumphant with Parklife and Country House and were duking it out with Oasis in the media.
However, they had already swiftly moved on by 1997’s self-titled album, which dispensed with the more twee aspects of their sound and featured superb number one singalong Beetlebum, plus the breakneck-paced shouty anthem Song 2. You know, that one played to death in sports stadiums across the world, great though it was...
There’s no shortage of hits for Blur to choose from to have the Balado crowd going bananas: perhaps they’ll opt for early indie-dance belters such as There's No Other Way and Girls & Boys, though it’s likely they’ll concentrate more on their later alternative classics such as the sublimely subtle Out of Time and sweet Coxon-led Coffee & TV.
Goodness, even if they plump for playing This is a Low, there’s no doubting that this will be a real highlight of the weekend.
