CONCERT REVIEW: Meldtown Festival, Festival Hall, London, England July 2, 2000

After the yearlong touring of 1999 to promote 13, culminating in the Singles Night Tour in December, Blur for all intents and purposes took the year 2000 off, both in terms of recording and touring. They were invited to play at that year’s Meltdown Festival, put together in 2000 by Scott Walker. In keeping with the tradition to present more artistically challenging material and eschewing the more commercial material (that is, not playing “the hits”), Blur approached this one-off concert in that spirit and presented a set list that is among the most interesting and unique in their career:

Battle
Tender
Blue Jeans
Trimm Trabb
Country Sad Ballad Man
To the End
Look Inside America
Beetlebum
This is a Low
Death of a Party
No Distance Left to Run
On Your Own
Ernold Same
Black Book

Apart from the surprise of opening the show with Battle, there are a lot of goodies tucked into this show. This would be the final time (to date) Battle, Country Sad Ballad Man, Look Inside America, No Distance Left to Run, and On Your Own would ever be played live. Ernold Same, which had been played as a short instrumental between 1994 and 1996, is here presented as the full album version, complete with Ken Livingstone, who did the narration on The Great Escape, joining the band onstage. In my opinion, however, the real treat at this concert is the final song, Black Book. This is the only time the song was ever played in a live concert setting…at the time it was slated to be the band’s one-off non-album single in 2000, but eventually it was released as the b-side to the eventual Music is My Radar single. Still, it’s really nice to hear it here…it’s not as long as the studio version, but that’s ok.

As far as the performance goes, surprisingly, Blur sound very nervous and tentative throughout the show. There are some mix ups, most notably having to restart Beetlebum after it all falls apart. Luckily, there is some light banter onstage, mainly concerning Damon blaming it all on Alex and the cigarettes he smokes! The more obscure songs, which to me are the best parts of the show, are played with intense concentration and perhaps are not as visceral as more comfortable material like On Your Own or This is a Low, but they’re no less interesting. One thing to note throughout the show is how intimate it all feels. It’s truly one of the more “special” shows to listen to.

One last thing that makes this an historic show in Blur's history is that is was the final concert Graham Coxon played with the band until their Reunion Tour in 2009.

Recordings of this show are pretty easy to get a hold of, but if you're having trouble, and enough people are interested, I could always post it.

SHOW: O2 Academy, Newcastle, England June 25, 2009

Here's Blur's show from Newcastle on their reunion tour of 2009. This is cobbled together from various audience videos of varying quality. In addition, some songs aren't complete...however, this is almost the whole show, and all we have from Newcastle until an audience tape (or a soundboard!) pops up. I still think you'll enjoy it, especially if you were there that night. Enjoy!

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=DI7FTE2U

SHOW: Gorillaz @ Agannis Arena, Boston, MA October 6, 2010

Here's the recording I made of Gorillaz' show in Boston last week...not the best but not too bad. Hope you enjoy it!

UPDATE: for some reason the old link was dead, so here's the new one:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=I9PQ1443

LINK UPDATED NOVEMBER 18, 2010

UPCOMING SHOW: Gorillaz at Agannis Arena, Boston 10/6/10

I know this isn't Blur, but it's Blur-related...I managed to record the entire Gorillaz show in Boston last week. The sound isn't great but it's not terrible...your typical audience recording from halfway back in a large arena. I'm going to track it and clean it up a bit this weekend and will upload it when I'm done, so stay tuned! (the above picture is a photo I took of my ticket, (C) Drew Athans, 2010)

GIG REVIEW: NME Gimme Shelter Charity Show, Town & Country Club, London, England July 23, 1992

After the disastrous 1992 US tour, Blur returned to the UK bruised, bloody, and bitter. Not making their mood any better was the fact that, while they were away, a new band by the name of Suede had taken the UK scene by storm...by returning rock music to English roots, something Blur had tried (and failed) to do with the release of Popscene prior to leaving for America. Against this backdrop, Blur were clearly not in the best frame of mind when they were invited to participate in the Shelter charity's benefit gig, co-hosted with the NME, entitled Gimme Shelter. On the bill were Blur, Suede, Mega City Four, and 3 1/2 Minutes. Irritated by their lack of success in America and the fact that they were now co-headlining with Suede, Blur began drinking early on the day of the gig. As was recounted in gory detail in 3862 Days, by the time they were due onstage, they were barely able to walk and were in foul moods.

Walking onstage, Damon told the crowd his now famous (infamous?) quote, "We're so shit, you should just fuck off now!" What followed was a gig that was chaotic, sloppy, and wildly exciting. As described in the official biography, the band was barely able to stand and kept crashing into each other and falling to the floor.

The set list was:

Popscene
Come Together
Advert
Colin Zeal
Pressure On Julian
She's So High
Oily Water
Never Clever
Luminous
Sunday Sunday
There's No Other Way
Coping

Of particular interest are two rarely played songs, Never Clever and Luminous, the former being, at the time, the intended follow-up to Popscene (which was scrapped once Popscene flopped in the charts). Also, as you can see, quite a lot of material slated for the second album was debuted for the UK crowd (some had been played earlier in the year) here, such as Advert, Colin Zeal, Pressure on Julian, Sunday Sunday, and Coping.

I've talked to a fellow who was there and he described the gig as "not very good," while other accounts range from it being awful to strangely enthralling. Some people even described it as the best gig they ever saw! (again, referring to accounts in the official bio). One thing that cannot be disputed is that David Balfe and Andy Ross, the heads of Food Records, were so disgusted that they gave Blur a dressing down the following day and threatened to drop them from the label if anything like this ever happened again. Obviously, as it turned out, Blur cleaned their act, tightened up their performances, and went on to become mega stars within 18 months. This can clearly be seen as their nadir, and their most key turning point, both in their attitude and approach to performing, as well as their work ethic.

For years, a recording of this gig has been a Holy Grail of mine (and other collectors) as all we've ever known of it are secondhand accounts and the passages in 3862 Days. I even did a ton of research on this gig for the No Distance Left to Run documentary, tracking down a fellow who was there, a ticket stub, and articles in NME and Melody Maker. But the material I uncovered was unused in the film because the actual recording remained elusive.

Until now.

Here, finally, after many years of searching by me, is the complete gig. I won't describe too much other than you can hear the drunkenness loud and clear, and the gig has its moments of being horrible and being quite good. A long and in-depth analysis will be included in the 2nd edition of Black Book, so until the book is complete and available for you to read, you can make your own opinions on this show.

VERY SPECIAL THANKS goes to Ian Rule, who was kind enough to share this recording with me and who agreed to let it be shared with the rest of the Blur fan community...thanks so much, Ian!

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=H1RV13OU

PLEASE LEAVE COMMENTS after you've listened to this...I'd love to hear what you all think!

SHOW: BBC Hippodrome, London March 15, 1999

Blur's concert, recorded live by the BBC, on the day the 13 album was released. Fantastic sound and a fantastic performance. Enjoy and carry the music through the weekend, I hope it's good for everyone!

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=YE81N4L7

SHOW: University of London Union, London November 11, 1990

Here is an early Blur show from 1990...sound quality is not so great but historical importance rules the day here. A very early pre-release version of There's No Other Way with a different arrangement. Enjoy and leave some comments!

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=YVGF6H74

UPDATE: New download link for Blur at Wembley Arena 12/13/95

It was brought to my attention the link for this show was dead, so I've updated it (go HERE)...let me know any other shows you try to download that have dead links (it's all related to the level of activity...if no one downloads for 60 days, they kill the link).

And follow this page on Facebook and Twitter to get more updates!

SHOW: Apollo, Manchester, England November 28, 2003

Here is a show from Blur's UK Winter Tour of 2003 to go along with this article. This was sent to me by the taper and will be included in the second edition of Black Book. Decent sound and a pretty good show...I hope you enjoy this!

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=2R1IP2KA

SHOW: Paleo Festival, Nyon, Switzerland July 22, 1994

Here is a great show from Blur's festival summer of 1994, in keeping with yesterday's article. Great sound and playing on this one...enjoy!

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=FYSD0KMD

TOUR REVIEW: Festival Summer of 1994

As they did nearly every summer of their career, Blur toured during the summer of 1994 playing mainly festivals. Only, for the first time in their career, 1994 saw them as the headliner, playing in front of massive crowds due to the massive and overarching popularity of Parklife and its singles. The high point was the massive and legendary performance at Glastonbury (see HERE and HERE).

For the summer, Blur played the following festivals (available recordings are in bold):

June 1994:

25th - Old Trout, Windsor, UK
26th - Glastonbury Festival, UK

July 1994:

7th - Sonoria Festival, Milan, Italy
10th - Dour Music Festival, Belgium
20th - Quart Festival, Kristiansand, Norway
22nd - Paléo Festival, Nyon, Switzerland
30th - T In The Park Festival, Glasgow, UK
31st - Feile Festival, Ireland

August 1994:

11th - Hultsfred Festival, Sweden
14th - Marktrock Festival, Belgium
18th - PopKomm Festival, Cologne, Germany

Of the known recordings, all are available except for the Old Trout, Windsor show (which was a warm-up for Glasto) and the T in the Park show, both of which I am trying to track down. It'd be great if we could get copies of the other shows to fill out the summer's shows (if you have any recordings, please contact me privately). No surprises in the set lists, which all followed the same basic pattern:

Lot 105
Sunday Sunday
Jubilee
Tracy Jacks
Magic America
End Of A Century
For Tomorrow
Chemical World
There's No Other Way
To The End
Advert
Parklife
Girls & Boys
Bank Holiday
This Is A Low

The Hultsfred show had the band adding in a Swedish song called "The Frog Song" which is quite humorous to hear (I'll try to post it at a later date), while we all know about the legend of Glastonbury where they ended the show with an epic This is a Low as the sun was setting. When listening to these shows, you can hear how heady it all was for the band, as the crowd response is absolutely insane...it's a constant wall of cheering and singing along. Another thing to note, however, are Damon's rather annoying mockney stylings anytime he talks to the crowd between songs. All part of the image of the day, for sure, but it does get grating to listen to. But it's the music that counts, and these shows are some great ones, played with visceral energy and abandon, but still very tight and focused (download and listen to the Glastonbury show linked to above to hear it in pristine soundboard quality).


As an aside, this will be the last post for a while (2-3 weeks, probably) apart from maybe a show or two, while I undergo and recover from some minor surgery...but I'll still check in to banter back and forth in the comments section, so please leave comments and feedback!

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