Blur @ Hyde Park

I think it was sometime during Foals' set that it dawned on me. I was just about to see Blur. I mean Blur, the band that started my whole obsession with music, the band that create Parklife, the soundtrack to my life aged 10, the band that I've wanted to see live since then. They were going to take to the stage in matter of minutes. I was excited to say the least.

This was the first of two nights at a full capacity Hyde Park and after hours of sitting/standing in the scorching sun, watching uninspiring bands, it was a relief for the 55,000 slightly drunken, eager fans when the sounds of Lot 105 rang across the park.

The band strolled on from stage right, looking so casual you'd swear they do this every night, and went straight into their first single She's So High. The crowd erupted. Every lyric that Damon Albarn sang was resonated right back at him. The four-piece seemed overwhelmed by the reaction and as they began the Parklife one-two of Girls & Boys and Tracy Jacks, the crowd and the band bounced and flailed to every beat.

They ran through song after song, hit after hit, anthem after anthem at top speed, only breaking now and again for gasping intros and slightly awkward banter but each song made me realise how good Blur were/are. Alex James just grooved on his bass like no one else while mounted his monitor, Dave Rowntree's kept an insistent rhythm while adding playful fills, Damon is a mix between Suggs, Ray Davis and Mick Jagger, full of the vigour and energy of a twenty-year-old, especially when armed with a megaphone. But its Graham Coxon, the coolest man alive, that steals the show for me. His chunky, squealing guitar sound soared through the evening air on Beetlebum and This Is A Low. At one point he flung himself through the end and landed on his knees while planning some serious mean guitar. It was one of the most rocknroll things I've ever seen. And although he's always been my favourite member of Blur, after that performance he may just be my favourite musician ever.

The big stage was perfect for Blur. It may not have been obvious when they were released but near every song they played tonight is an anthem. Song 2. Anthem. There's No Other Way. Anthem. Popscene. Anthem. Even the novelty that is Country House sounds like an anthem when 55,000 people are hollering it out. That's what this gig was great for. Arms in the air, head point to the sky and just belting out the words to songs that haven't meant that for years.

It's the slow numbers that work better for this. While Jubilee, Trimm Trabb, Parklife(feat. Phil Daniels) were great, it was Out Of Time; End Of A Century; Tender, who's refrain continues to be sang long after the song had finished, and the utterly incredible closer The Universal that blew the crowd away, everyone with their arms around everyone else. An Everest-sized high.

It wasn't until we were trudging back to the train station that I realised they didn't play Charmless Man, one of my favourite Blur tracks, but that goes to show that they still had albums worth of material that is comparable to it and for two hours in Central London, I was 12 again, Blur had never been away and I didn't have a care in the world. Bliss.

Blur - The Universal (live)
Blur - Song 2 (live)
Blur - This Is A Low (live)

Photos taken from MTV.com and Jellybeanz

Blur Week: More b-sides

More b-sides for you lovely people. This time round the secondary songs are taken from singles off Blur's eponymous album, Blur (obviously).
All Your Life and A Spell For Money were the b-sides to Beetlebum and they really show off the direction that the band took on Blur. All Your Life begins like a Pavement track with its scuzzy, off-kilter guitar that doesn't sound quite right but totally is. Saying that, the chorus is classic Blur with Damon's lyric all cheeky and bursting with charm. The odd synth notes behind the chorus gives it a crazed-robot kookiness. Spell For Money is a less intense affair with a glitchy, effects-ridden guitar lead and a plucky but subdued beat. For an instrumental, not much happens in it but I like it for it's minimalist nature. It just sort of bounces along, blinkers on the finish line.
Song 2 is a tough track to follow. Its a short, sharp burst of righteous energy and Blur have followed it with a 6 and a half minute rock-out epic. Bustin' + Dronin' does exactly what it says on the CD case. It busts and it drones in a haze of buzzing, fuzzed up guitars and enveloped vocals. It just goes on and on in this buzzy wasp like way. I'm not sure how people reacted to it at the time, being so different from Song 2 or anything Blur, but listening to it now, it sounds amazing.

Blur - All Your Life
Blur - A Spell For Money
Blur - Bustin' + Dronin'

AXTXTXIXTXUXDXE

If you want some scuzzy, lo-fi, noisy goodness you don't have to search across the pond, that's wasting energy. Some of the scuzziest, lo-fiest and noisiest noise is coming straight out of Nottingham in the form of Lovvers. I posted about them back in 2007 and since then they've been tearing venues up all over the places in support of last year's Think EP, which got great reviews.
Their next offering is OCD Go Go Go Girls, their second full length due out on August 10th and from it is AXTXTXIXTXUXDXE. It's garagey and gooey. All the parts sound as if they're sticking to each other, like rush-hour, train passengers on a muggy day, and nothing can be clearly defined but that works to the track's advantage in my opinion. I'm a lover of Lovvers

Lovvers - AXTXTXIXTXUXDXE
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Also it's Blur week on funfunfun after their epic, emotional and excellent set at Glasto on Sunday night (Weren't they good?) and because I am going to see them on Thursday!!!!!!! So excited. I've love them since I was 9 and this will be the first time I'll have seen them live. So I'm gonna try and post something Blur related everyday.
Don't Bomb When You're The Bomb was recorded and limitedly released in 2002, just after Graham Coxon left the band. It doesn't sound like the same Blur that I grew up with but that's one of my favourite things about the band; they can produce things that sound so different.

Blur - Don't Bomb When You're The Bomb