Blur to warm up for Hyde Park with Wolverhampton gig

Blur will warm up for their Hyde Park gig on July 3 next year with a series of warm-up shows - one of which will be in Wolverhampton.

As first announced by NME.COM, the band are coming together to play a massive gig at the London park in 2009, tickets for which go on sale at 9am (GMT) tomorrow (December 12).

Speaking to NME.COM, frontman Damon Albarn said the band would get ready for the show with a series of smaller dates.

"We'll do something in London because that seems sensible," he said, "but we're also playing in other parts of the country working up to there."

However, on Zane Lowe's Radio 1 show, the singer said that he wanted one of the shows to be in Wolverhampton.

"We'll have to play quite a few warm-ups," said Albarn. "So we'll start really small and get bigger. You can't just walk on stage after a ten-year hiatus and play Hyde Park, it's a bit foolhardy.

"We'll definitely be playing Wolves, that's for certain. We would play Dudley JBs but it doesn't exist any more, so the nearest to that. There are some people who have been very close to us for a very long time who emanate from the Black Country."

The singer refused to give a date for the show.

For a full exclusive joint interview with Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon get this week's issue of NME, available on newsstands now.

In the article the duo discuss how they buried the hatchet and why they decided to reconvene Blur, and reveal more of their future plans, including what songs they expect to play next year.

Head to NME.COM/PHOTOS for a special photo tribute to Blur.