The Magic Whip Tour 2015

[rich]

my favourite band last year was Temples who I saw live and are very good.

partial thread hijack alert
Agree - if you can get past their dogged retro styling (all grandad shirts, loons, waistcoats, kaftans - I've been there, done that in '72 ) the music is pretty good. Here's my vid of them at Rough Trade https://vimeo.com/113439426" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

rich

[thespider]

Hyde Park not sold out. So people have either decided that twice was enough for blur in hyde park - probably not helped by all the talk of the terrible sound when they played in 2012 - or were put off by the price

I think it's the price, this is £20 more than Hyde Park 2012. I doubt I'm getting £20 more Blur

and if i remember correctly it cost 40 odd quid in 2009? Not getting 50% more blur either!

See! Exactly! Hardly in line with inflation

I know at least two mates of mine who despite being Blur fans have said "Love 'em but I saw them in 2009 and 2012 and that's a shit ton of money for a gig".

[tom_cas1]

I enjoyed both times at Hyde Park, and had no porblems with either the crowd or the sound. Maybe I was lucky. I will be there again. But what I hope for is for smaller venues and a proper tour after Hyde Park.

It bugs me when people say the sound was poor at Hyde Park because I heard no problems at all, I was quite near the front so was it towards the back?

The sound wasn't as bad as people made it out to be but it WAS significantly worse than 2009.

Either way, I'm excited for everyone going! Especially those coming from other countries, I saw that JAIME is coming over. Awesome!

['Allo Vera]

...but you don't think some of those sound problems have been worked out? It seems like it all reached a fever pitch, last time with sound quality and even, on a slightly separate subject, the politics of locals demanding that it all be cut short because of the loudness; do you think the gripers have pushed it as far as it will go? I've read that Alex is dealing with the same complaints about noise for his festival but there are limits to how much the can expect to deny people.

I wouldn't assume those in charge of the event aren't going to try to improve upon the last time and take the criticism seriously. What they've had to accommodate for in local complaint, they may try to make-up for in improved sound quality. I think it's sometimes a continuous "trial by error" for these festivals.

Also: Who's going to repaint "...and the view's so nice" before the shows and the release of their next album ?

[tom_cas1]

To be fair the main reasons I don't want to go are because I've been twice before and I can probably pick up two "tour" tickets for the price of one Hyde Park ticket.

It's a real shame though that people in 2012 talked over less well known songs. Hyde Park isn't a BLUR show, there will be people there to see the support acts. A proper tour it's all about Blur really where people dig every song they play. The more casual music fans at a Hyde Park show probably won't be bothered when new songs are played.

[rich]

Just sent this email to AXS:

"Hi AXS
Yesterday morning I completed a blur pre-sale transaction with yourselves, ordering 2 x priority tickets for Hyde Park on 20 June 2015.
I printed the web page confirmation – which gave me the order number of (--). A scan of this is attached. The page said a confirmation email would be sent.
This didn’t arrive, so I called last night, spoke to someone at AXS who checked the records, established that my order had been taken, and said she’d send another email…
This too hasn’t arrived (and I have checked spam filters etc…)
I would be grateful if you could send me a confirmation email to both my work address (--) and my personal email (--) (in the hope that one gets through!)
I wonder if this glitch is down to the fact that I used a ‘no purchase necessary’ pre-sale code (xx) which I got from the blur/parlophone website – copy of this email attached. Other people posting on the blur fan site http://www.vblurpage.com/ have reported similar problems…
Thanks
Rich"

I'll report back on what happens

well - AXS might not be sending me confirmation emails, or responding to my emails, but the money's gone out of my account - so I must be in I guess...

['Allo Vera]

This is going to sound a little silly, but maybe the talkers have grown-up a little since then? What I usually hear from people who've become Blur fans who weren't fans in the 90's because they were too young to be and weren't exposed to them then, is almost always the same; they kind of tumble into it, like they've discovered this amazing indie band, that they have exclusive knowledge about how truly awesome they are. I have to believe that some portion of those who just sang the standards and talked over everything else, later went back and re-listened to their music and have become more interested in the less obvious songs in their full catalog. They might be the ones shushing all the casual newbies, this year .

[Miki]

I enjoyed both times at Hyde Park, and had no porblems with either the crowd or the sound. Maybe I was lucky. I will be there again. But what I hope for is for smaller venues and a proper tour after Hyde Park.

It bugs me when people say the sound was poor at Hyde Park because I heard no problems at all, I was quite near the front so was it towards the back?

I was kind of midway, by the mixing desk. It was fine where I was.

[MrMagpie]

This is going to sound a little silly, but maybe the talkers have grown-up a little since then? What I usually hear from people who've become Blur fans who weren't fans in the 90's because they were too young to be and weren't exposed to them then, is almost always the same; they kind of tumble into it, like they've discovered this amazing indie band, that they have exclusive knowledge about how truly awesome they are. I have to believe that some portion of those who just sang the standards and talked over everything else, later went back and re-listened to their music and have become more interested in the less obvious songs in their full catalog. They might be the ones shushing all the casual newbies, this year .

Eh. Maybe. As I felt in 2012, I don't think the band is bringing in loads of new fans with these shows and recordings. Maybe a small number, but I'd wager 90% of the fans excited by this recent news and who will go to the non-festival shows are firmly entrenched old-school Blur fans. Old bands that have been around a long time don't bring in new fans by the droves, they just slowly build up, little bit by little bit, their already well-established fanbase.

[rich]

Yeah but Damon's other recent activities might swell the fan base? This happened to me in 2009 when my love for GBQ and Gorillaz reignited my interest in blur (confined at that point to Parklife and ST which I had bought when they came out). I took my daughter to Hyde Park and was knocked sideways by the band's substantial body of work. I remember thinking this is actually quite important stuff!

rich

[MrMagpie]

Yeah but Damon's other recent activities might swell the fan base? This happened to me in 2009 when my love for GBQ and Gorillaz reignited my interest in blur (confined at that point to Parklife and ST which I had bought when they came out). I took my daughter to Hyde Park and was knocked sideways by the band's substantial body of work. I remember thinking this is actually quite important stuff!

rich

Perhaps. I'm still skeptical. I remember on the old forums in 2009 there were so many fans thinking that Blur were going to be even bigger than ever before because of the shows and exposure, and that certainly didn't happen. It doesn't happen for any older band...the Rolling Stones (to pick but one, but insert your long-time well established band of choice here) don't add huge new swaths of fans with every tour or album they do...they have their massive core fanbase that's been around forever and they add little bits to it, some from new fans and probably more from children of the original fans. I'd wager good money over bad that it's the same with Blur. There are exceptions, of course, but my gut tells me they don't account for huge new influxes of fans to swell the fanbase.

Not that any of this is a bad thing! But it just is what it is.

[Daysleeper]

I enjoyed both times at Hyde Park, and had no porblems with either the crowd or the sound. Maybe I was lucky. I will be there again. But what I hope for is for smaller venues and a proper tour after Hyde Park.

It bugs me when people say the sound was poor at Hyde Park because I heard no problems at all, I was quite near the front so was it towards the back?

I was kind of midway, by the mixing desk. It was fine where I was.

I was at both, I thought the sound was good in 2009, however I was probably nearer to the front in 2012 and thought it was very quiet.

[davidsutter]

really though tweedz you should start with french song all the casuals will probably go away by the end

[MrMagpie]

really though tweedz you should start with french song all the casuals will probably go away by the end

Better yet, Berserk!

[JAIME]

Either way, I'm excited for everyone going! Especially those coming from other countries, I saw that JAIME is coming over. Awesome!

Cheers Tom!

Yes, we will be 5 Chilean fans plus 1 Argentine there in Hyde Park.

The dreams come true!