GOLDEN GRAHAM!

nme.com is there to see the Blur guitarist kick off his solo tour in noisy fashion...

Blur guitarist Graham Coxon kicked off his solo tour at GLASGOW GARAGE last night (Monday July 10), giving nine songs from his new album ‘THE GOLDEN D’ their first live airing.

The hour-long set of 13 songs in total was a riff-heavy almost pure rock outing. Starting off with older track ‘That’s All I Wanna Do’, which began in the gentler style of his debut album ‘The Sky Is Too High’, he quickly plunged into a heavy, metal-tinged rendition of ‘Jamie Thomas’, the opening track on ‘The Golden D’, followed by ‘The Fear’ and his cover of Mission Of Burma‘s ‘Fame And Fortune’, virtually mirroring the album’s tracklisting.

Looking quite apprehensive as he took the stage, after the first number he turned to his co-guitarist, Rod Jones from Idlewild, and said, according to audience members at the front of the stage, said quietly: “This is scary.”

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Quiet for most of the show, he spoke to the audience – a mixture of moshing, crowd-surfing younger fans at the front and more sedate spectators at the rear of the 600-capacity venue – only a few times during the show, saying: “This is a cover version of a Swedish band,” before the first number of the three-song encore, ‘Min Trampolin’. Introducing the song ‘Fags And Failure’, he said: “This is a song about not achieving what you set out to achieve.”

He grew more confident as the show progressed and the audience reaction grew louder, many clearly taken aback at the sheer volume and rock-out attitude that suggested he has been listening to Mvtorhead, Black Sabbath, NOFX and Pavement. The new songs bore little or no resemblance to his Blur work.

By the last song, a slow-build epic rendition of ‘Lake’, both Coxon and Jones were doubled over their guitars and built up a swathe of feedback, with the frontman leaving the stage last to wildly enthusiastic applause.

The full set list: ‘That’s All I Wanna Do’ ‘Jamie Thomas’ ‘The Fear’ ‘Fame And Fortune’ ‘I Wish’ ‘Leave Me Alone’ ‘That’s When I Reach For My Revolver’ ‘Fags And Failure ‘Don’t Think’ ‘Who The Fuck?’ ENCORE ‘Min Trampolin’ ‘My Idea Of Hell’ ‘Lake’

Coxon plays Sheffield Leadmill tonight, and goes on to Nottingham Rock City on July 12, London Highbury Garage (14, 15), followed by festival appearances at Carling Weekend Reading on August 26 and Leeds on 27.

To check out the latest festival news, visit nme.com‘s Festival Site – Click here.

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For tickets ring the NME 24-Hour Ticketline on 0870 1 663663. Calls are charged at national standard rate.

There are no plans as yet to release any singles off the 12-track album ‘The Golden D’, which was released on June 12 and features Coxon playing all instruments, singing all vocals and producing it.

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