CityLife

Blur - at last a reunion to look forward to

BACK IN PLAY: Blur

OF all the surprise reunions that the decade has brought with it so far, the sight of the four members of Blur playing on stage together was perhaps one of the most unexpected pleasures of 2009.

Their resolutely divided post-Blur ambitions since going their separate ways in 2003 – and Graham Coxon even earlier in 1999, when he was asked to leave the band because of his ‘attitude’ – seemed in tune with the slow breakdown that the band had gone through since the mid-1990s.

Bizarre TV appearances, public spats and the volatile relationship between the band’s two front men – Damon Albarn and Coxon – became par for the course. 

But then, there’s two sides to every story. Blur’s members never really laid their band to rest; there was, in fact, never one of those big announcements that the group was splitting. Instead, they said, they were going off ‘on hiatus’. 

That hiatus soon stretched to five years after the boys enjoyed enormous success away from the band they’d formed as teenagers.

Gorillaz

Albarn couldn’t put a foot wrong with Gorillaz and The Good, The Bad And The Queen; bassist Alex James discovered a second wind as a writer, journalist and TV presenter; drummer Dave Rowntree moved into the legal profession his name always begged for (look it up, CityLifers); and Coxon enjoyed an acclaimed, if low-key, solo career.

There’s been serious conversations about reunions for two years now and, by all accounts, the relationship between Albarn and Coxon has proved the biggest stumbling block.

It is, apparently, their renewed friendship that has finally put the band back together.

Excitement among fans about the reunion was so high that the band sold out Hyde Park in a little under two minutes, and even old enemy Noel Gallagher was forced to celebrate the comeback – if only because he believed it would spell the end of the Kaiser Chiefs.

Ironically, the Chiefs were chasing the support slot, but instead Blur are bringing two hotter, younger things with them: Klaxons, fresh from their struggle with album two, and Florence And The Machine. 

And after an early summer of sold out shows, they end their tour here, at the M.E.N. Arena.

If you want to make sure you don’t have to wait another 10 years to see then share a stage again, we recommend a roof-raising show of love.

Blur play the M.E.N. Arena on Friday, June 26. £25, £45. Call 0844 847 8000. Florence And The Machine and Klaxons support.