BLUR - 2023 LIVE

[stephen]

Was a great gig, will reflect more later, was surprised at the lyric /chord screens at the front and on his piano for damon… but guess he has a lot to remember!, he seemed exhausted as gig went on

Anyway, someone has uploaded the whole gig… doubt itll be up long

https://youtu.be/qp9AeTRxxh8

Bloody hell look at Graham's gear Basically filling half the stage

[munch]

I watched all of it. There was an amazing bit where an audience member was being carried out the front and he just managed to get a high five from Damon. Perfect timing. Not sure what time it happened

[rich]

Glasto’s ChurnUps = blur or pulp?

[jeffnottingham]

Glasto’s ChurnUps = blur or pulp?

Or both!

[rich]

blUR + puLP = chURnUP

[elasticaman]

Some live stats to keep the thread warm until Friday. These are the songs that have not been touched by Blur live since Graham returned.

The titles with asterisks have never been played live as far as setlist.fm knows.

Leisure:
Bang
Slow Down
Repetition
Bad Day
Fool
Come Together
High Cool
Birthday*
Wear Me Down

Modern Life is Rubbish:
Pressure On Julian
Blue Jeans
Star Shaped
Miss America
Turn It Up
Resigned*
Commercial Break

Parklife:
Bank Holiday (though there was footage of them rehearsing it in 2009)
The Debt Collector
Far Out
Magic America
Lot 105

The Great Escape:
Best Days
Fade Away
Top Man
Mr. Robinson's Quango
It Could Be You
Ernold Same
Globe Alone
Dan Abnormal*
Entertain Me

Blur
M.O.R.
On Your Own
Theme From Retro
You're So Great
Chinese Bombs
I'm Just A Killer For Your Love
Look Inside America
Strange News From Another Star
Movin' On

13:
Swamp Song
1992
BLUREMI
Battle
Mellow Song
Trailerpark
Optigan 1*

Think Tank:
Ambulance
Crazy Beat
Good Song
On The Way To The Club
Brothers & Sisters
We've Got A File On You
Moroccan Peoples Revolutionary Bowls Club
Sweet Song
Jets
Gene By Gene

B-sides and non-album tracks:
All of them apart from
Mr. Briggs
Popscene
Young & Lovely
Under The Westway
The Puritan
(plus Damon and Graham have played All Your Life and The Man Who Left Himself at Damon solo gigs)

Some of them are surprising (who knew that On Your Own hasn't had an airing since 2000? Or that the self-titled album has had only 12 plays of songs that aren't Beetlebum or Song 2?), but maybe some will make their way back (esp the MLIR ones)?

Is a live debut of Resigned out of the question? Or a return for Star Shaped after three decades of not being played?

could make a really great setlist from the tracks they'll never touch again, id love to hear: Repetition, High Cool, Wear Me Down, Starshaped, Turn It Up, Magic America, It Could Be You, Globe Alone, Dan Abnormal, On Your Own, Just A Killer For Your Love, Look Inside America, On Your Own, Swamp Song, Battle, Ambulance, Sweet Song, On The Way To The Club, We Got A File On You.... but doubt we will hear a single one of them, just To The End again and again and again

heres a few notable live outings post-reunion
Strange News From Another Star, Graham & Damon at the War Child Brits 2012 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHd61hp23tM
You're So Great, Graham Solo 2018 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOzBmeIHC8s
Miss America, Graham Solo 2018 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhDFsnu5vz
Sweet Song, Damon piano tour 2021 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyLiIl1B-Rc

more amazing than the fact some of these havent been played is the fact that for some bizzare reason blur played TOPMAN on the think tank tour https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8z6gYHf17wk

[ricj]

Yes, it's a real shame that SO many songs have been neglected since 2009. You'd really think that they'd want to play as many different songs as possible just to keep it interesting for them let alone us. It's really surprising (to me at least) how much of a shift there's been in their apparent attitude since the the 97-00 era. Back then it seemed like they only wanted to drip feed the pre-97 era stuff into setlists. Now it's basically the complete opposite and it's all of the interesting 97 onwards material that's getting neglected. Don't get me wrong, I'm over the moon they've brought back things like Coping but there's so much left unplayed.

My heart sunk when I heard those opening keyboard sounds from Tracy jacks at Newcastle the other night. I'd be happy to never hear them play that ever again...

[Neal Zeal]

Yes, it's a real shame that SO many songs have been neglected since 2009. You'd really think that they'd want to play as many different songs as possible just to keep it interesting for them let alone us. It's really surprising (to me at least) how much of a shift there's been in their apparent attitude since the the 97-00 era. Back then it seemed like they only wanted to drip feed the pre-97 era stuff into setlists. Now it's basically the complete opposite and it's all of the interesting 97 onwards material that's getting neglected. Don't get me wrong, I'm over the moon they've brought back things like Coping but there's so much left unplayed.

My heart sunk when I heard those opening keyboard sounds from Tracy jacks at Newcastle the other night. I'd be happy to never hear them play that ever again...

On the subject of T Jacks, I was thinking the other day about the ages of people mentioned in Blur lyrics.
T Jacks would now be getting past 70, not 40.
Jubilee is around 46, and in End of a Century, it would be 'as you get closer to 60'.
Sobering!

[rustyrusty]

...in End of a Century, it would be 'as you get closer to 60'.
Sobering!

I was expecting Damon to sing it like this last week knowing it was changed to 'closer to 50' last decade, but nope... he's reverted back to 'closer to 30'! (Well he did in Eastbourne at least...)

[aldamasta]

My heart sunk when I heard those opening keyboard sounds from Tracy jacks at Newcastle the other night. I'd be happy to never hear them play that ever again...

I also have been appreciating these setlists, but Tracy Jacks would give me the same reaction. They’re probably gonna play it at Wembley aren’t they…

So grateful they’re touring and giving us some Modern Life deep cuts, but Tracy Jacks could be replaced with almost any song (even Country House!) and the setlist would be better.

[ricj]

Yes, it's a real shame that SO many songs have been neglected since 2009. You'd really think that they'd want to play as many different songs as possible just to keep it interesting for them let alone us. It's really surprising (to me at least) how much of a shift there's been in their apparent attitude since the the 97-00 era. Back then it seemed like they only wanted to drip feed the pre-97 era stuff into setlists. Now it's basically the complete opposite and it's all of the interesting 97 onwards material that's getting neglected. Don't get me wrong, I'm over the moon they've brought back things like Coping but there's so much left unplayed.

My heart sunk when I heard those opening keyboard sounds from Tracy jacks at Newcastle the other night. I'd be happy to never hear them play that ever again...

On the subject of T Jacks, I was thinking the other day about the ages of people mentioned in Blur lyrics.
T Jacks would now be getting past 70, not 40.
Jubilee is around 46, and in End of a Century, it would be 'as you get closer to 60'.
Sobering!

Oh god yes... I think about this kind of thing all the time. I was recently thinking about how I remember my dad going to see Pink Floyd on what turned out to be their last ever tour in 1994. That was only a mere 19 years after they'd released Dark Side of the Moon but at the time, that seemed like a couple of lifetimes ago and Pink Floyd looked like very old men to the 13 year old me. Blur released Parklife that year and that is now 29 years ago but in some respects seems like yesterday in my mind.

And I will be 50 in 8 years time....

[elasticaman]

Yes, it's a real shame that SO many songs have been neglected since 2009. You'd really think that they'd want to play as many different songs as possible just to keep it interesting for them let alone us. It's really surprising (to me at least) how much of a shift there's been in their apparent attitude since the the 97-00 era. Back then it seemed like they only wanted to drip feed the pre-97 era stuff into setlists. Now it's basically the complete opposite and it's all of the interesting 97 onwards material that's getting neglected. Don't get me wrong, I'm over the moon they've brought back things like Coping but there's so much left unplayed.

My heart sunk when I heard those opening keyboard sounds from Tracy jacks at Newcastle the other night. I'd be happy to never hear them play that ever again...

Had written a whole long reply about this but I’ll just cut it down to this. I fell in love with the 97-99 blur, I love the 2003 blur infact.

I do not love the 2009 onwards pastiche, reliving 1994 down to the Cheryl, Fred Perry, Fila uniforms. Playing up to a britpop cartoon. Rolling out country house again and again and again

Hearing these same songs time after time getting more and more tired. Just wish they’d mix it up more and have some fun with their back catalogue and trust their audience.

[stephen]

ah 2009 was great. It still felt refreshing at that point because they reverted back to playing songs like Country House and obviously Graham was back, I felt like they were happy playing the hits and that suited it really well at the time. Rolling it again in 2012 I thought was a bit over kill and now again in 2023 initially thought the same but the band seem to have progressed well together and even though they play older songs it somewhat feels like the dynamic has completely shifted again

[ricj]

I do not love the 2009 onwards pastiche, reliving 1994 down to the Cheryl, Fred Perry, Fila uniforms. Playing up to a britpop cartoon. Rolling out country house again and again and again

Hearing these same songs time after time getting more and more tired. Just wish they’d mix it up more and have some fun with their back catalogue and trust their audience.

Perfectly put. It's funny though, back in 1999 I would've killed to hear them play songs like Country House simply because their well documented hatred towards that song especially and most of their 94-95 back catalogue would've made it seem like something incredibly rare, special and completely out of character. I remember it kind of blew my mind when they announced that singles night mini tour, that they were ACTUALLY going to play those songs again!

[Twenty90]

Saw them in Wolves for the first time having loved this band dearly for many years. It was bittersweet because Blur soundtracked a huge part of my youth and now, at 32, I feel like I'm putting that part of my life to rest. The Narcissist felt pretty poignant for this reason. What a fucking great song.

Having grown up in Colchester, I would have loved to see them at the Arts Centre with all my mates but it seems almost no one local got tix. Hope I get to see them again soon, though being in a small venue was really special.