A not-so-affable vendor shouts ‘Let’s ‘ave it,’ at potential customers. They respond favourably and, despite his bomber jacket and Fred Perry polo, the salesman relents and launches into a song.
Damon Albarn’s an unlikely purveyor of ice cream, but Blur’s new album cover (there’s a neon 99 front and centre) demands it. Happily, the next two hours are a showcase for his more obvious talents as a talismanic frontman for Britpop’s biggest and best.
The set begins in the present day, with Go Out, a song from The Magic Whip – Blur’s first album in 12 years and, crucially, the first with Graham Coxon since 1999’s 13.
It’s undeniably a Blur song but the crowd – a mix of old timers and young ‘uns who weren’t even born when Damon first feuded with Liam – are hungry for something else. They want the sugary thrill of familiarity.
Free ice creams, handed out to front rowers by Damon himself, help a bit, but it takes a trip all the way back to 1991 and the band’s second ever single, There’s No Other Way, to win everyone over.
Against a backdrop of Japanese-inspired visuals, what follows is a potted history of a very fine career. Band and crowd peak together for Beetlebum, for Phil Daniels’ obligatory cameo (you know the song) and for Song 2, but underlying the fun there’s a bittersweet theme.
End of a Century belies its cartoon lyrics and delivers serious emotional heft, Tender is beautifully wrought and then there are the wittily chosen set finishers, To The End and This Is A Low.
An encore brings The Great Escape to the fore – Stereotypes and The Universal sandwich Girls & Boys and For Tomorrow – and with that the boys are gone. For a well-earned ice cream, perhaps.
Main Set
Go Out (from The Magic Whip, 2015)
There’s No Other Way (from Leisure, 1991)
Lonesome Street (from The Magic Whip, 2015)
Badhead (from Parklife, 1994)
Coffee & TV (from 13, 1999)
Out of Time (from Think Tank, 2003)
Beetlebum (from Blur, 1997)
Thought I Was a Spaceman (from The Magic Whip, 2015)
Trimm Trabb (from 13, 1999)
He Thought of Cars (from The Great Escape, 1995)
End of a Century (from Parklife, 1994)
I Broadcast (from The Magic Whip, 2015)
Trouble in the Message Centre (from Parklife, 1994)
Tender (from 13, 1999)
Parklife (with Phil Daniels) (from Parklife, 1994)
Ong Ong (from The Magic Whip, 2015)
Song 2 (from Blur, 1997)
To the End (from Parklife, 1994)
This Is a Low (from Parklife, 1994)
Encore
Stereotypes (from The Great Escape, 1995)
Girls & Boys (from Parklife, 1994)
For Tomorrow (from Modern Life is Rubbish, 1993)
The Universal (from The Great Escape, 1995)
REVIEW by Damien Gabet, music-news.com
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