Blur carried out a particular gig on the BBC Radio Theatre for Radio 2 final evening (July 18) – debuting new track ‘Barbaric’, showcasing their new album ‘The Ballad Of Darren‘ and welcoming Phil Daniels on-stage for ‘Parklife’. Take a look at pictures, footage and the setlist beneath.
Following on from taking part in to 90,000 followers per evening at their two large Wembley Stadium reveals final week, the Britpop heroes returned to the capital to carry out a way more intimate present for simply 300 fortunate competitors winners and media. NME had been in attendance, as DJ Jo Whiley informed the viewers that a whole bunch of hundreds utilized for tickets.
The vast majority of the present was broadcast stay on BBC Radio 2, in addition to being made obtainable on iPlayer with a televised broadcast to observe later this month.
Taking to the stage, the band opened with new album single ‘St. Charles Sq.’, earlier than frontman Damon Albarn pelted the entrance rows with water as he led the band right into a punky rendition of ‘Popscene’.
The likes of Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Dermot O’Leary, comic Josh Widdicombe and guitarist Graham Coxon‘s THE WAEVE bandmate and companion Rose Elinor Dougall had been in attendance because the band carried out a run of classics and favourites together with ‘Beetlebum’, ‘Villa Rosie’
and ‘Espresso & TV’. A spotlight adopted with ‘Out of Time’, and Albarn thanking the BBC for having them “on this lovely house and time”.
“We’re gonna play a few new songs,” he then informed the viewers introducing ‘Russian Strings’. “Don’t fear – they’re not shit. Nicely, magnificence is within the eye of the beholder.”
Albarn invaded the gang as soon as extra for a spritely outing of basic single ‘Ladies & Boys’, earlier than actor Phil Daniels joined the band on stage to carry out his iconic verse from ‘Parklife’ – with the frontman joking that way back, the track would have been performed on Radio One.
After a well-received supply of current single ‘The Narcissist’, the band then closed their first set with the soulful ‘This Is A Low’. The encore wasn’t broadcast, however featured the vigorous future single ‘Barbaric’, alongside ‘Finish Of A Century’ and ‘The Common’. It’s not identified if these songs shall be featured within the upcoming televised broadcast.
Blur’s setlist was:
‘St. Charles Sq.’
‘Popscene’
‘Beetlebum’
‘Villa Rosie’
‘Espresso & TV’
‘Out of Time’
‘Russian Strings’
‘Ladies & Boys’
‘Parklife’ (with Phil Daniels)
‘Advert’
‘Tender’
‘The Narcissist’
‘This Is a Low’
Encore:
‘Barbaric’ (Stay debut)
‘Finish of a Century’
‘The Common’
Blur: Radio 2 In Live performance alongside the compilation Blur on the BBC shall be broadcast on Saturday July 29 on BBC Two. Blur: Radio 2 In Live performance is now obtainable on BBC Sounds and iPlayer.
The band launch their long-awaited ninth album ‘The Ballad Of Darren’ on Friday (July 21). In a four-star evaluate, NME wrote: “In contrast to lots of their friends, there has by no means been a timelessness to a Blur album – that’s a very good factor. While you take heed to ‘Trendy Life Is Garbage’ now, you possibly can really feel disdain for the tradition that surrounded them, or the uncooked confusion of heartbreak on 1999’s ‘13’; they’ve a approach of transporting you to a exact second or emotion.
“It’s why ‘The Ballad of Darren’ is so memorable and touching: you possibly can really feel it, the whole lot, in each line sung or word performed. Talking to NME final week, Rowntree says that once they had been recording, ‘the whole lot we tried, labored’, and that ‘magic was within the air’. It’s keenly felt right here; could it by no means fade away.”
The indie veterans shall be performing ‘The Ballad Of Darren’ in full at a particular livestreamed gig at London’s Eventim Apollo in Hammersmith on Tuesday July 25, earlier than a run of European pageant dates earlier than appearances in Asia and South America. Go to right here for tickets and extra data.
