REVIEW: blur Wolverhampton The Civic 26.5.23

My sole previous participation involving blur in a live setting was almost 30 years ago on the opening night of their Parklife tour at Nottingham’s Rock City May 10th, 1994. The ceremony was being closely followed by BBC Radio 1’s evening session, Jo Whiley and Steve Lamacq, ardently awaiting the reception to the quartet’s new material, the follow up to the mod expedition Modern Life Is Rubbish.

Rock City was packed to the rafters, at fever pitch with Sleeper as a suitable backing band, the hype was justified as Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon, Alex James and Dave Rowntree lead their ecstatic crowd through the throws of Tracy Jacks, Trouble In The Message Centre, Boys & Girls, Damon jumping into the crowd his Lonsdale t shirt ripped to shreds by the baying hoards. The night was the start of a heady musical pilgrimage the band have been off and on for the following 3 decades.

Fast forward to May 2023 new West Midlands venue The Halls, Wolverhampton awaits these returning heroes to a live locale. 2 small gigs preceded this gig, Colchester, Eastbourne, with Newcastle to follow, tonight being another knees up until they hit the gigantic Wembley Stadium stage in a couple of weeks time.

From previous warm up shows the set list promises umpteen luxuries. Its with the new that the magnum opus begins, St Charles Square taken from the forthcoming long player The Ballad Of Darren, embraces Gary Numan electro vibe with a Bowie-esque chord structure, what’s not to like. Following this was a binge through firmly adored family favourites; There’s No Other Way, Popscene, Coping, Chemical World, Beetlebum with praise for general audience participations, Trimm Trabb, morphing into Villa Rosie with Albarn shouting down Wolverhampton Wanderers in jest, Coffee and TV is preceded by Graham thrashing out Smells Like Teen Spirit, End Of A Century along with the punked up Intermission and megaphone alerting Advert. Going on from their interviews promoting their comeback the band have had relatively little practice, their songs are no doubt written on their hearts and in the minds of their makers, their playing looks natural, almost effortless, full of charm, passion and grit, this is one of the great bands we’re witnessing.

There are little variations to my 1994 experience, Rowntree sharing backing vocal harmony duties on a number of songs most notably startling gorgeous new track The Narcissist, Albarn has a number of gadgets to hand including upright piano, his tinkling hijinks involve sitting at the black and whites, full on Bacharach swooning to the crowd like an aged well Swan spreading its wings gliding on the Billy Joel, James is forever glued to his bass, his cool as f*ck persona will never change, Coxon fresh from his exertions with Duran Duran is back playing diverse and complex rifts, a natural demi God of the 6 and 12 string.

blur are one of those bands that hold natural affection through their exquisite songs, charming looks and overall at ease personas, their return is warranted the grand welcome back Wembley Stadium will give them. Some bands struggle to adapt from a studio setting to a live one, but these forever playful mortal cherubs don’t ever, ever fail.