Blur performed a couple of major rarities last night (July 8) during its first of two shows at London’s Wembley Stadium. The band performed the Parklife closer “Lot 105” for the first time since 1994 and dusted off the 2012 single “Under the Westway” for the first since 2014.
Elsewhere, British actor Ray Daniels reprised a late May appearance during the song “Parklife,” while the London Community Gospel Choir helped bolster the sound during “Tender.” The 25-song set also featured two songs, St. Charles Square” and “The Narcissist,” from Blur’s upcoming album The Ballad of Darren.
Blur returns to Wembley tonight and has scattered international dates on its calendar through Nov. 25-26 in Buenos Aires. For now, no North American shows are in the offing.
The beloved U.K. band is also the subject of SPIN and Bose’s new Decades of Sound campaign, and recently discussed the 30th anniversary of its album Modern Life Is Rubbish. Led by the Kinks-y single “For Tomorrow,” the album was the blueprint for what was to come: jaunty indie-pop songs that celebrated and satirized U.K. traditions like the Sunday roast, sugary tea, and the bingo.
“We prematurely went on this huge, great tour of America,” frontman Damon Albarn said. “The record label felt that we needed to visit every radio station. We’d be greeted by people who had no idea who we were. Being English boys, we hadn’t acquired that transatlantic confidence when meeting people and everything being great. If we weren’t feeling particularly ebullient on that day, we wouldn’t pretend we were. We saw all these things in America, and they kind of terrified us and appalled us to a degree: the behavior, the gluttony, the size of everything. Add to that the excesses of the road, and the indifference … excess and indifference is a really bad combination.”
