Blur claim festivals wouldn’t book them if they didnt play ‘Song 2’

Drummer Dave Rowntree also says band's drum tech decides on their setlists

Blur drummer Dave Rowntree has argued that the Britpop band wouldn’t be booked to play festivals if they didn’t perform their hits.

The group have had an eventful summer, appearing at both Isle Of Wight Festival and Benicassim in Spain, with a set at Electric Picnic upcoming. They also headlined a British Summer Time event at London’s Hyde Park in June.

Speaking to XFM, Rowntree claimed that he and his bandmates almost feel obliged to play hits like ‘Song 2’ at festivals due to the fact that many in attendance won’t be familiar with their less-known material.

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“It’s difficult. It’s an hour and a half set, and there’s about an hour’s worth of music that you absolutely have to play or we’d get bottled off,” he said.

“You know, if we didn’t play ‘Song 2’ we’d never get invited to a festival again.”

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Rowntree also quipped that their setlists are compiled by their drum technician.

“These days we delegate the job to Stuart my drum tech. He comes up with the basic setlist and then we argue about it from there,” the drummer added.

Listen to the full interview below.

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Meanwhile, Blur bassist Alex James has said he is proud of Damon Albarn for playing a gig that went on so long security had to escort him off the stage.

Albarn was performing with his Africa Express project at Roskilde Festival in Denmark, collaborating live with the likes of bandmate Blur bandmate Graham Coxon, Yeah Yeah Yeahs‘ Nick Zinner, Laura Mvula, Jeff Wootton, Songhoy Blues and Seye Adelekan.

During the performance, Albarn covered The Clash and Randy Newman, while also performing Gorillaz tracks

Appearing on TV last week (July 16), James revealed an unexpected influence on the marathon live show. “God bless him, I was so proud of him playing for five hours,” the bass player said while on Good Morning Britain.

“Damon told me he went to see Ken Dodd and he used to play for, like, five hours, didn’t he!”

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