TOUR REVIEW: Fall European Tour of 1994

During the insanely busy year of 1994, Blur played all over the world from April until the end of November. Starting right after their Fall US Tour and being immediately followed by their Japanese tour in November, they did some heavy touring in Europe during October and November, including a whole host of dates in France. The tour dates are below (and the available recordings are in bold font):

October 1994:

9th - The Loft, Berlin, Germany
10th - Kantine, Cologne, Germany
11th - Batschkapp, Frankfurt, Germany
12th - Tilt, Munich, Germany
13th - Markthalle, Hamburg, Germany
19th - La Leiterie, Strasbourg, France
20th - Le Montjoye, Besancon, France
21st - Salle Bois d L'Aulne, Marseilles, France
22nd - La Krakaota, Bordeaux, France
24th - Exo, Rouen, France
25th - Bataclan, Paris, France
26th - Transborder, Lyon, France
27th - Zig Zag, Orleans, France
28th - Art Rock Festival, St. Brieuc, France
30th - Zeleste II, Barcelona, Spain
31st - Paradiso, Amsterdam, Holland

November 1994:

1st - Christiana, Copenhagen, Denmark
2nd - Sentrum Scene, Oslo, Norway
3rd – Palladium, Stockholm, Sweden
5th - Gothenburg, Sweden
6th - Lund, Sweden
9th - Geneva, Switzerland
10th - The Factory, Milan, Italy
11th - Rimini, Italy
12th - Florence, Italy
13th - Florence, Italy

Of the available recordings, the Paris, Copenhagen, and Oslo ones are uncirculated although I am working on getting copies of them. The general set list for the tour is below:

Lot 105
Sunday Sunday
Jubilee
Tracy Jacks
Magic America
End Of A Century
Coping
Chemical World
There's No Other Way
To The End
Advert
Supa Shoppa
Parklife
Girls & Boys
Mr. Robinson's Quango
Bank Holiday
This Is A Low

As you can see, nothing too surprising, as it draws heavily from Parklife and Modern Life is Rubbish, with only a single nod to Leisure. They were also at this time previewing Mr. Robinson's Quango from the forthcoming Great Escape album (they had started playing it earlier in 1994) and would throw in a short instrumental version of Ernold Same as well, from time to time.

While these shows were generally solid, you can definitely hear the fatigue come through. This is especially true as the concerts go on...they tend to start out well, get sluggish by the middle, and then mostly recover by the end. It's understandable, as by this time they'd been on the road a solid 6 months and still had a considerable Japanese jaunt planned for a week after this tour ended. However, the Japanese shows were some of their best, most frenzied of the tour (and of their career...read about them HERE).

All in all, while the recordings from this tour don't contain Blur's best shows, they're solid and worth checking out, despite the lack of surprises in the set lists or performances. If anyone was at any of these shows (and even if you weren't), share some feedback in the comments section!

And of course, if you have any recordings from this tour (or any others), please contact me privately.