Here's a show from 1999 promoting the 13 album. Blur only played three American shows that year, and while I've spent the better part of the last 13 years trying to track down the first two shows (New York and Los Angeles...I know people who have the tapes but the email addresses are dead), this final one from Toronto is, to date, the only one that has surfaced. I hope you enjoy it!
https://rapidshare.com/files/1426329809/Blur_-_Palais_Royale__Toronto_4-6-99.zip
Enjoy this slice of live Blur!
Sweet! I was at the New York show (Roseland). The regular set comprised of exclusively 13 material (inc. "Tender", the opener, which featured the Harlem Community Gospel Choir up behind the stage) and the encore was "Beetlebum", "Popscene", "There's No Other Way", and "Song 2". Graham wore a NY Mets t-shirt and played his blonde '52 Telecaster most of the time and Damon sported his usual navy & white Fred Perry and played his Guild acoustic for a good chunk of the time. Great show but a bit weird given that it focused so heavily on 13 - definitely a far stranger vibe than when I saw them at the same venue two years prior.
ReplyDeleteVery cool! I was *this close* to going to the NYC show...I had tickets and was ready to hop on the Greyhound to go to NY (I was at university about an hour north of Boston at the time) but I had a mid-term that week and decided I needed to stay and study. My exact thought was "oh, I'll just catch them later this year when they come back." Of course they never did in 1999 and I managed only to catch them in 2003 in Boston...a great show, but without Graham it wasn't the same.
ReplyDeleteI know a fellow who has the tape...two guys, actually. One has responded to me but in cases like these it can take years to finally get your hands on it, so still I wait...
Thanks for sharing your memories on the show, very cool to read. How many times have you see Blur live?
Just twice - both times at Roseland - the first time was in Sept. of '97. I also saw Graham's solo band at the Bowery Ballroom in... March of '05, maybe? That was slightly disappointing, though - he didn't really have the stage presence or the songs to pull off an entire show at that point.
ReplyDeleteVery cool, you're lucky to have done so! I have a recording of the '97 show but I'd love to get that '99 one. If you ever come across one, let me know.
ReplyDeleteInteresting assessment of Graham's live show in '05. Sounds about right. I'd love to see him these days, though!
I remember wanting to go to this show very badly! They were giving tickets away at Tower Records if you bought the new album. Of course they went fast. They also had a webcast of the concert online somewhere. It was choppy video that was constantly buffering. Long story short, I've been wanting to hear this show for 15 years. And the one link I find is a dead rapidshare link. :(
ReplyDeleteAny chance it could be uploaded?
Thanks