If I’m honest the Britpop days largely passed over my head. As my head – throughout the 90s – was firmly lodged in a bass bin listening to house, drum n bass, techno, hip hop and funk. Of course, I was very aware of bands like Blur as you couldn’t escape them. Tracks like ‘Girls and Boys’ were a main stream dancefloor staple and Damon was all over the tabloids. Who could forget the Oasis vs Blur 1995 battle of the bands frenzy? I really started to appreciate their catalogue in the early 2000s and their excellent 2003 album ‘Think Tank’ – by which guitarist Graham Coxon had departed – was a major gateway.

So I was very excited to score a couple of tickets to their sell out 2024 Coachella warm up show at the Fox Theatre in Pamona which is a very small venue for a band of their stature. In July 2023 I had seen the first of their two back to back Wembley shows. That’s Wembley Stadium. The 90,000 seater national stadium, home to such legendary concerts as Band Aid and England winning the World Cup in 1966. The Wembley show was amazing, they made a big stadium feel like a small indie venue, helped of course by an amazing catalog of music.

Prior to this I had seen them in Southend (circa 2004) and the Hollywood Bowl (circa 2015) touring the ‘Magic Whip’ album. Not to rest on their laurels, the Wembley show came off the back of a new album the ‘Ballad of Darren’ which made the refreshing statement that this was more than a ‘Greatest Hits’ tour. Don’t forget Damon Albarn also created Gorillaz who sell more records than Blur and cements his status as a musical genius. All things considered – Blur for me are the band of a generation and Damon the best frontman of the last thirty years. They piss all over Oasis – musically more sophisticated and with a much bigger catalog. Their music runs the whole spectrum; they can do indie bangers (‘Popscene’), via top charting pop hits (‘Girls and Boys’) to soaring ballads (‘No Distance Left To Run’) and everything in between.

They tore the roof of the Fox Pamona and it was everything you could have wanted. This isn’t a review of the show. Fast forward four more days and they were on the main stage Saturday night at Coachella. I watched the show live on YouTube. I could tell the crowd was very flat and this was visibly annoying Damon. When the crowd – after Damon’s request to singalong to the chorus on ‘Girls and Boys’ – didn’t join in Damon berated them. “You’re never seeing us again, so you might as well fucking sing it!” he said, which made news headlines everywhere. I don’t blame him. Reading a lot of the comments the main theme was Coachella didn’t deserve Blur. Also that Coachella crowds are notoriously wary of breaking a sweat, are full of influencers and probably most attendees weren’t even born when the song came out. What happened sparks many interesting questions and debates:

Blur Are Very British

Blur – apart from ‘Song 2’ (ironically a satire of the at that time all prevalent Grunge) – never really broke America on a big scale. They’re a very British band – the references, irony, Music Hall style, humour, themes and language might not travel so well to our American cousins. That said they do have a good following – Anglophiles, Britpop fans, musos – so whilst not a stadium band here they could easily put bums on seats in 8,000 + seater venues. The American’s just don’t get it.

Damon’s Comments Were Misconstrued

By saying ‘You’re never seeing us again..’ I didn’t actually read it as ‘we won’t be playing Coachella again’ specifically to ‘we’ve reformed as Blur this time round and toured for a year, after this I am going back to Gorillaz, my solo material and other new projects’. Of course journalists – I used to be one – are good at spinning meaning and ‘We Will Never Do Coachella Again’ makes a good headline and it penetrated the internet and ether.

You Had To Be There (the 90s)

One of my American friends says he doesn’t get Blur and thinks they don’t write good songs. Again, I think – see above – their music might not translate culturally across the Atlantic that well. Plus, it’s the music and memory issue. So if he hadn’t heard them when he was 18 / 22 / 24 / etc, then it hasn’t sountracked pivotal moments in his youth and hence does not have that resonance and memory trigger now. Music you hear when you are younger imprints on your character and will never leave you. Although I do feel he might be trying to trigger me. How can you not listen to ‘Tender’, ‘The Universal’ or ‘No Distance Left To Run’ and think they can’t write a good song?

Coachella Has Changed

The early days of Coachella were mainly about alternative and indie music – The Cure, Pixies, Radiohead, Interpol, Bjork, The Verve etc etc. But that was 20 years ago. Most of those fans are now too old so Coachella had to shift demographically and appeal to a new younger fan base. Hence headliners are now Doja Cat, The Weekend, Tyler The Creator, Beyonce, Ice Spice etc etc as the programming moves to more pop and hip hop. Hence Blur as co-headliners today could be seemed as an anomaly. That said, you would think a crowd could show a bit more enthusiasm to a simple sing-along chorus. My experience of Coachella is it’s over priced, too corporate, too hot, full of influencers and beautiful people in a crowd who are resistance to letting their hair down. Plus you are only allowed to drink beer in a dedicated drinking area so very controlled which for me is anti the spirit of a good festival.

At the time of writing, they’re playing their second weekend at Coachella in a few days. It’s not cancelled. I am tempted to go. They’re great performers with an amazing body of work so engrained into the British psyche as to be part of the culture and to evoke strong memories across the decades. ‘Popscene’ makes me feel I am spilling lager in an indie disco circa 1995. Hearing ‘Girls and Boys’ I am follwing the herd down to Greece getting sunburnt and trying to snog girls (and maybe boys) at a Euro disco. ‘No Distance Left To Run’ and I am crying my eyes out realising this is the end and that nothing will be the same. Their songs are soundtracks to my youth and continue to provide a backing track as I age. They wrote fucking great songs and still continue to create with an amazing output. For me they are up there as the best UK band of the last few decades (tying with Radiohead).