Blur release their ‘Best of’ album, Midlife, just in time for their reunion tour. Having killed at Glastonbury, I was bouncing with excitement at the thoughts of seeing them at Oxegen.
Like many people, I first took note of Blur on release of their third album, Parklife. Girls and Boys, Tracy Jack, End of a Century and To The End all went down a treat on Friday night.
I’ll admit to being a bit apprehensive when the set started. By his own admission, Albarn was heavily stoned and he looked it. But it didn’t detract from his performance at all. If anything, his wistful, gazing into the distance added to the mystique of the reunited Brit-poppers.
I have been listening to Midlife for the past few weeks and it’s easy to forget how many awesome and now classic tracks Blur produced. Everyone remembers Country House, Coffee & TV, Parklife, Girls and Boys and the Universal, but there was always so much more to Blur once you looked beneath the singles. The band really seemed to enjoy themselves playing Badhead, Chemical World and Tracy Jacks.
Rocking out to Song 2 until my head hurt – that’s a festival memory I’ll cherish. But, for me, the highlight had to be their paired down, yet no less epic version of Tender. The entire arena erupted in chants of “come on, come on, come on” and I just felt happy. I let it all out and for over 7 minutes there was nothing else going on in the world. It’s a wonderful song and Blur more than did it justice.
The band flew through Parklife and it felt like they were just going through the motions, but they more than made up for this with a great rendition of End of a Century. On the album, End of a Century is just a reminder that Blur are a band who had their hay-day a decade ago. Live, it’s a different story. Full of energy and gigging for the love of music, Blur stole the Festival on an amazing Friday night at Oxegen.
More photos on Flickr.com/photos/darrenbyrne
The Setlist (courtesy of Swear I’m Not Paul)
- She’s So High
- Girls And Boys
- Tracy Jacks
- There’s No Other Way
- Jubilee
- Badhead
- Beetlebum
- Out Of Time
- Trimm Trabb
- Coffee & TV
- Tender
- Country House
- Oily Water
- Chemical World
- Sunday Sunday
- Parklife
- End Of A Century
- To The End
- This Is A Low
— - Popscene
- Advert
- Song 2
— - For Tomorrow
- The Universal
Great review. Wonderful photos. How d’you get so close? I floated away home after the 2nd encode The Universal. Fantastic.
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