Blur: Think Tank
Due to some weird accident of timing, we're currently getting a masterclass on how - and how not - to sustain a long career in pop. Jarvis is back under new (dis)guise Relaxed Muscle, Radiohead return with an album that disappointingly occupies...
Carling Weekend : Reading, Main Stage Saturday
Tonight will probably be remembered as one of the greatest Blur shows of all time. From Damon falling off the stage during 'Beetlebum' and putting a dent into the ground beneath him to Phil Daniels joining them for a tin-pot, acoustic version of...
Blur : Paris L'Espace Clacquesin
Nobody mention Paul Simon. If it's the imploding stars that shine brightest then it's no wonder 'Think Tank' is such a supernova. Founding members are now dispensable bit-players, the US success of Gorillaz has relegated Blur to little more...
Blur : Don't Bomb When You Are The Bomb
Blur once did knowing art-yob-pop better than anyone. But recent attempts to locate the cutting edge have been desperately unconvincing: does, say, Alex James (i)really(/i) spend all day at home listening to Faust, John Zorn and njarka fiddle...
Blur: The Best Of
There's a story going round that Blur had so much trouble agreeing on the line-up of this album that eventually the record company lost patience and left it up to public research groups. Which is, of course, just how it should be. After all, in...
London SE1 Royal Festival Hall
The omens were not good. The mystically-minded Blur fan, cutting open the chickens and swirling the tea leaves, might well have predicted a long and vexing evening of polka, played in the style of Pavement and bellowed by Keith Allen in a...
London Royal Festival Hall
This is Blur 's one and only gig of the year in the UK . And it certainly isn't singles night. They work through a set that has an almost mystifying choice of oldies and few of the hits you might expect, but they do it with flashes of incredible...
Newport Centre
Oh dear. The first night of Blur 's last tour of the millennium and Damon 's about to 'lose his rag' with a rowdy Newport crowd. Just like he did on that charmless South Bank Show . "How can I be a flash bastard?" he pleads,...
Blur : No distance left to run
Oh dear, the really, really sad one. The one about the nitty-gritty of the break-up. Coughs nervously, pulls on hairshirt and shuffles over to the stereo. Brace yourself for sadness. "It's over, you don't need to tell me" , snuffles Damon , "I...
London Camden Electric Ballroom
Damon 's surprised to receive little response when he announces that they're about to play Down an "ancient song from when we thought we were Spacemen 3 " : "I thought you were here because you knew all our songs." It's become something...
