Blur Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

Blur have shared some unseen footage from the shoot for the ‘Parklife’ video, as well as a restored version of the video itself.The clip from the visuals of the 1994 Britpop anthem sees the quartet hanging around an ice-cream van, almost kicking a football into its path. They are also shown dancing in the street and spraying paint on a wall.In a post about the shoot, bassist Alex James remarked that he had “great memories” from shooting the video.The release of the archive clips follows the 30th anniversary of the album ‘Parklife’, which the group celebrated last week.

Damon Albarn said “this is probably our last gig” during Blur’s set at Weekend 2 of Coachella 2024 last night (April 20).The legendary Britpop band – comprised of Albarn, guitarist Graham Coxon, bassist Alex James and drummer Dave Rowntree – took to the annual music and arts festival’s main stage for the second consecutive Saturday night (April 20).And as they prepared to launch into ‘Tender’, the last song of the night, Albarn confided to the crowd: “In the spirit of clarity and truth, this is probably our last gig”.“In the spirit of clarity, and truth, this is probably our last gig” – Damon Albarn introducing the last song of the Blur set at Coachella, Weekend 2 pic.twitter.com/52Fy56y702— Damon Albarn Unofficial (@DamonUnofficial) April 21, 2024It comes after Albarn stated in December that the band would be going on a hiatus until further notice, saying “it’s too much for me”.“It is time to wrap up this campaign,” he said. “It’s too much for me.

Blur frontman Damon Albarn has revealed that he didn’t want to perform during the band’s second Wembley show last year.In November 2022, Blur announced a reunion gig at Wembley Stadium for July 8, 2023. Due to overwhelming demand, the reunion gig turned into a two-parter, with a second show announced shortly after.That second show – which took place on July 9 – went on to become their “best ever” gig, according to Albarn himself. However, the July 9 show was on the verge of being cancelled by Albarn, who didn’t want to perform.Albarn revealed the near-cancellation during an interview with KROQ during Coachella‘s opening weekend, sharing: “I never thought I’d love Wembley.

Blur‘s Damon Albarn has opened up about the audience and attendees at Coachella, saying that “they’re sort of on their own planet”.The legendary Britpop band – comprised of Albarn, guitarist Graham Coxon, bassist Alex James and drummer Dave Rowntree – took to the annual music and arts festival’s main stage on Saturday night (April 13).In an interview with KROQ before their set, Albarn said: “I don’t know, it’s a weird one Coachella when it comes to audience you know. It’s hard to know sometimes because they’re quite sort of on their own planet really,” after being asked if he was surprised by how excited and crazy the fan reaction was to the band playing the festival.Elsewhere in the chat, Albarn and James explained how they came to play Coachella this year.

Blur’s Damon Albarn aired his frustration live on stage while performing to an unenthusiastic Coachella crowd this weekend.The Britpop legend performed with his band at the California music festival on Saturday (April 13), in between sets from Sublime and No Doubt, before Tyler, The Creator headlined that evening.Blur delivered a career-spanning set on the Coachella main stage, including fan favourites like ‘Song 2’ and ‘Popscene’.However, Albarn was visibly irritated when attempting to perform a call and response with the US crowd during ‘Girls & Boys’.“You can do it better than that,” he told attendees at one point, which was met by a quiet crowd. When he still didn’t get the desired response, the frontman said: “You’re never seeing us again, so you might as well fucking sing it.

Blur rocked day two of the first weekend of Coachella 2024 last night (April 13), with a set spanning their long career. Stream the whole thing below.The Britpop greats played a 13-song set, ranging from ‘90s classics like ‘Girls & Boys’, ‘Popscene’ and ‘Song 2’ to tracks from their 2023 album ‘The Ballad of Darren’, including ‘The Narcissist’ and ‘St.

Liam Gallagher’s favourite Blur song is, you won’t have to wait any long – see what Liam Gallagher considers to be his top Blur track below.During Blur’s pre-Coachella warm-up gig at the Fox Theater Pomona in California on April 10, frontman Damon Albarn spoke of several instances of Americans trying to claim songwriting credits for their hit track ‘Song 2’.Albarn said onstage: “Because of the nature of American law, if someone gets a lawyer… they can come quite a long way with absolutely no grounds. Someone else this year – not only is it that person who’s convinced they’d written it, but there was another person who was convinced.

Blur broke out a number of classic tracks at their Coachella warm-up gig last night (April 10). Check out footage and the complete setlist below.The intimate live show took place at the Fox Theater in Pomona, California, yesterday evening, and came ahead of the huge set that the Britpop icons are set to break out at Coachella later this weekend (Saturday, April 13).They first announced details of the set on social media back in February, when they shared an image of a flyer, and confirmed that support on the night would be from Mercury Prize-nominated duo Jockstrap.On the night, Damon Albarn and co.

Militarie Gun put their own spin on Blur‘s hit ‘Song 2’ during a festival appearance over the weekend – check it out below.The Californian quartet performed the iconic Britpop track during a set at Louisville hardcore festival LDB. Given the group’s ’90s alternative rock influences, it sounds like it sat with the rest of their songs quite cohesively.Fan-filmed footage of the cover shows the crowd responding rather enthusiastically to it, with frontman Ian Shelton being surrounded by gig-goers preparing to stage dive.According to Setlist.fm, Militarie Gun have been playing ‘Song 2’ in their setlist for quite a few of their recent shows, with the potential that it might be a long-term part of their set.Check it out below:.@militariegun covering Song 2 by Blur goes so incredibly hard omfg pic.twitter.com/bh4sbRLznF— kero’s corner (@_ouijabored) March 22, 2024In January, the Californian band released a new EP, called ‘Life Under The Sun’, featuring re-worked tracks from the band’s 2023 debut album ‘Life Under The Gun’, for which they linked up with a series of collaborators.Manchester Orchestra came on board ‘My Friends Are Having A Hard Time’, while they also collaborate with Bully (on ‘Never Fucked Up Twice’) and Mannequin Pussy (‘Will Logic’).

Blur drummer Dave Rowntree will stand as a Labour candidate at the next general election.Announced on Wednesday, Rowntree will stand in Mid Sussex. The constituency includes Burgess Hill, Haywards Heath and the Mid Sussex villages.In a statement, per The Guardian, Rowntree said of his candidacy: “I’m delighted to have the opportunity to become Labour’s first Mid Sussex MP. Residents have their best chance in a generation to make their vote count and return a Labour MP to parliament.”He continued: “The Tories have run out of ideas, and the Lib Dems have run out of steam.

Blur have announced an intimate warm-up show ahead of their performance at this year’s edition of Coachella.The Britpop icons took to their official social media pages to share a flyer of the intimate show, which is set to take place on Wednesday, April 10 at the Fox Theatre in Pomona, California. The show will take place roughly three days before Damon Albarn and co are due to hit the stage at Coachella on Saturday, April 13.Opening support for the gig will come from Jockstrap.

Damon Albarn covered The Smiths‘ ‘Panic’ with his Africa Express collective on stage in Mexico City this weekend.The Blur frontman joined the group for the performance in Morelos, Mexico at Bahidorá Festival on Saturday (February 17).The musical collective was formed in 2006 with the aim of bringing together artists from different cultures and musical genres for collaborative events.Albarn sang and played piano for the high-energy performance, and was joined by Camilo Lara for a lively ska interpretation of The Smiths’ 1986 track.Check out footage of the showcase below.Announcing the show last month, the Gorillaz artist shared that the performance would mark Africa Express’ first visit to Mexico, bringing together musicians, singers and DJs from around the world “to collaborate on a very special, completely original show”.NME watched Africa Express live back in 2019, describing the show in a five-star review as a “symbolic display of diversity, collaboration and unity”. It added: “Africa Express rarely gets together, but when it does, it specialises in generating one-off moments through unique combinations.”The collective’s last release, ‘Egoli‘ also came out in 2019.

Blur are set to release a new documentary and concert film charting their huge 2023 reunion.As Screen Daily reports, UK sales and distribution company Altitude has added the two upcoming titles to its European Film Market (EFM) slate. Both projects will be released in cinemas in the UK and Ireland later this year.The first film is a feature-length documentary detailing the Britpop band’s latest comeback, which saw Damon Albarn and co.

Becky Hill and Snow Patrol are set to headline Big Feastival, a music and food festival hosted by Blur’s Alex James on his Cotswolds farm.The festival will take place on August 23-25 and features a combination of live music, acclaimed chefs, award-winning food and a programme of family entertainment. Weekend and camping tickets are on sale now with prices ranging from £42.50 to £198.95.

Liam Gallagher has responded to Dua Lipa branding Britpop bands as “obnoxious” in a recent interview.The ‘Houdini’ singer recently spoke about the musical influences on her forthcoming third album, which included bands like Blur and Oasis.In the interview with Rolling Stone, the pop star hinted that the new record would channel the “don’t give a fuck-ness” of the Britpop legends.When the interviewer mentioned that Noel Gallagher and Damon Albarn hadn’t been kind to female artists in the past – taking shots at artists like Taylor Swift and Adele, for example – Lipa said that while she hadn’t experienced any encounters with them personally, you “sometimes you have to separate the art from the person”.“It’s more like the music element, the aspect of it that I’m really connected to. The way that [some Brit-pop artists] acted, the things that they’ve done, they’re obnoxious for sure.

Dua Lipa has said that some bands from the Britpop era, including Blur and Oasis, past behaviour was “obnoxious”.Lipa sat down with Rolling Stone to discuss her forthcoming album. In the profile, journalist Brittany Spanos wrote how some of the ‘Levitating’ singer’s inspirations for the album include Britpop legends like Oasis and Blur, as well as ’90s rock and electronic acts like Moby and Gorillaz.Spanos went on to mention that some of those Brit-pop acts, including Noel Gallagher and Damon Albarn in particular, haven’t been the nicest to female pop acts.

NME recently supported the Featured Artist Coalition’s 2023 End of Year Party and AGM at Walthamstow’s Signature Brew in London. Following on from 2021 and 2022, NME returned to support the event as well as chairing an artist-led ‘Year in Music’ panel discussion featuring Murray Matravers of the band formerly known as Easy Life, Sam Duckworth of Get Cape.

Damon Albarn has said he’s “pissed off” with the The Rolling Stones for their “nonsense” involvement with Hackney and “objectification” of Sydney Sweeney.The Blur frontman spoke about the legendary band in a new interview with French magazine Les Inrockuptibles, where he was asked about his thoughts on their new album ‘Hackney Diamonds’.“This really annoyed me” he said, “because my family lives in Hackney and the way they showed up at the Hackney Empire venue really pissed me off. They’ve never did a thing in Hackney, they’ve never played there, never contributed to anything. They just showed up.

Damon Albarn has shared that Blur will be going on a hiatus until further notice with the frontman saying “It’s too much for me”.The band – comprised of Albarn, guitarist Graham Coxon, bassist Alex James and drummer Dave Rowntree – reunited after an eight-year hiatus and released their ninth studio album ‘The Ballad Of Darren‘ earlier this year.In a new interview with French publication Les Inrockuptibles (via Far Out Magazine), Albarn revealed that the band will be taking a break yet again until further notice. “It is time to wrap up this campaign.

NME will return for a third year to support the Featured Artists Coalition’s annual AGM, with a panel of artists looking back on 2023 and what challenges and opportunities lie in the year ahead.The FAC’s 2023 End of Year Party and AGM, in association with PPL, will take place at Signature Brew in Walthamstow on Wednesday, November 29. Following on from 2021 and 2022, NME will return to support the event with News Editor Andrew Trendell leading an artist-led ‘Year in Music’ panel discussion featuring FAC board member Joff Oddie of Wolf Alice, Murray Matravers of the band formerly known as Easy Life, LVRA and Cherise.LVRA and Cherise have both been recipients of the FAC’s Step Up Fund powered by Amazon Music, while TBFKA easy life will be recognised for their outspoken advocacy at the upcoming Artist & Manager Awards last night (November 23).The FAC’s Artist in Residence, Blur drummer Dave Rowntree will also deliver an opening statement.Much of the event will focus on the major issues that the FAC continues to tackle, such as streaming reform, the application of AI in music, the 100 Per Cent Venues campaign to end punitive commissions on merchandise sales, and the #LetTheMusicMove campaign to encourage friction-free international touring.“With 2023 coming to a close, I’m really proud of what the FAC team has accomplished, and particularly our campaigning work with 100 Per Cent Venues, #LetTheMusicMove and continuing push to reform the economics of streaming,” said FAC CEO David Martin.“Our end of year party is a perfect opportunity to hear the views and perspectives of artists on all these issues, to find out about the work we do, and for our community to come together in unison.

James Blunt has recalled the time that Damon Albarn didn’t want to be photographed with him for an episode of Later… With Jools Holland.The topic arose during a discussion with actor Kathy Burke on an episode of her podcast series Where There’s A Will, There’s A Wake. It heard the singer-songwriter recall the shun that he received from the Blur frontman.Recalling feeling “a little bit annoyed” about one of the passages in Blunt’s new memoir Loosely Based On A Made-Up Story, Burke asked the artist about the passage where he discussed his appearance on the Later… With Jools Holland show – namely a moment that happened off camera.“They do this sort of group photo of all the bands at the end… was it Damon Albarn who refused to be in the photograph or didn’t want you in the photograph?” she asked.“I don’t know exactly.

Blur and Boygenius among the artists making its inaugural edition.The non-hierarchical list celebrates artists the channel has made a particular effort to champion in the last few months, including newcomers as well as more established artists.Appearing alongside Blur and Boygenius are big names including Christine & The Queens and Young Fathers, while rising stars Nia Archives and The Last Dinner Party have also made the list, which is rounded out by Gabriels, Loraine James, Say She She and Anthony Szmierik.The list was revealed by presenter Lauren Laverne on the Breakfast Show today (November 6). “The line-up for the inaugural 6 Music Artists of the Year is just bursting with music talent, innovation and inspiration,” she later said in a press release.

Fall Out Boy have covered Blur’s ‘Song 2’ at their latest gig in London. Check out the moment below.At London’s O2 arena yesterday (November 2) the band covered Blur’s classic song, from the band’s 1997 self-titled fifth album.Elsewhere in the hit-filled show, the band performed ‘Grand Theft Autumn/Where Is Your Boy’ with Awsten Knight of Waterparks.

MusicWeek) and highlighted that from the beginning of the year until the end of September, 3,952,262 vinyl LPs were sold – approximately a 13.2 per cent increase since 2022.According to the report, this increase was even bigger for the three months of the Q3 period, which saw 1,237,620 records sold in the vinyl format; a figure which is 15.1 per cent higher than the previous year.So far, artists majorly responsible for the resurgence of vinyl sales include Lana Del Rey, Taylor Swift, Blur and Kylie Minogue – all of which have released new LPs since the start of the year.So far, Lana Del Rey’s ‘Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd’ remains the biggest vinyl release of the year – with 33,568 copies sold on the format since its release in March. This is followed by Taylor Swift’s ‘Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)’, which was the biggest-selling vinyl release of Q3, with 29,649 sales.In third place is Britpop icons Blur, whose ninth studio album ‘The Ballad Of Darren’ has sold 26,894 copies, and Kylie Minogue’s ‘Tension’ isn’t too far behind, with 19,160 copies sold since its release last month.Other albums paving the way in vinyl sales include Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘Guts’, Wham!’s ‘The Singles: Echoes From The Edge Of Heaven’ and Lewis Capaldi‘s ‘Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent’.What’s more, this figure is expected to rise significantly for the remainder of 2023, with albums from Take That (‘This Life’) and Taylor Swift (‘1989 (Taylor’s Version)’) still set for release.

Graham Coxon has recalled Blur‘s effort to distance themselves from the sound of Britpop on their 1997 self-titled album.The band’s fifth album, featuring singles including as ‘Song 2’ and ‘Beetlebum’, was characterised by its aggression and heightened emotion in comparison to their previous work.Coxon was the main member of the band pushing for a stylistic change and detailed in a new interview with Mojo how he tried to make that happen.“I decided to write a letter to Damon because I wasn’t confident enough to broach conversations about my needs. It was something like: ‘I’d like to start scaring people again, because at the start, we were into unease, songs like ‘Oily Water’ and ‘Resigned’.

Blur, R.E.M., Garbage, Idlewild and more are set to reissue albums from the 1990s for next month’s National Album Day.As announced earlier this year, National Album Day will take place on October 14 and feature a special spotlight on the ’90s.Other artists set to reissue records on the day include Fatboy Slim, Bob Dylan, Wu-Tang Clan, Jeff Buckley and more.This year marks the sixth edition of the event – which originally launched in 2018 – and seeks to shine a light upon the artists and albums that defined the 1990s.

Blur have shed insight into the cover for their latest album ‘The Ballad Of Darren’, as has the artist and the swimmer captured in the image.The Britpop legends shared the update on their social media pages yesterday (August 21), celebrating one month since their ninth studio album was released.With the Instagram post, the band’s frontman, Damon Albarn, and drummer Dave Rowntree both shared their interpretation behind the cover, and revealed how it has a connection to one of their 1995 live performances.The post began with a brief clip of someone holding the album out, before dropping it down to reveal that they are standing in the same spot where the now-famous image was taken – the Gourock Outdoor Pool in Glasgow.“The image selected for the album’s artwork is one shot by British photographer Martin Parr of a lone swimmer on a stormy day at the Gourock Lido, Scotland, captured in 2004,” the second slide reads, also incorporating a quote from the artist himself.“It was in the summer and you have the blue of the lido but there was the grey sky so familiar in Scotland,” Parr explained, revealing the inspiration behind the photograph. “I thought this was going to be a great backdrop.

Blur have shared a new unreleased track titled ‘Sticks And Stones’ from their latest album ‘The Ballad Of Darren‘.The track follows the band’s two other releases, ‘The Rabbi’ and ‘The Swan’, released as part of the album’s deluxe edition. ‘Sticks And Stones’ will be released as a bonus track for the Japanese exclusive edition of ‘The Ballad Of Darren’.Guitarist Graham Coxon provides lead vocals on the track.

Blur‘s Damon Albarn has hit out at AI, branding it “absurd”.He criticised covers of the band’s hits featuring AI versions of Frank Sinatra, Michael Buble and Snoop Dogg.Albarn told The Sun: “It’s absurd. Anyone who has so much time to sing songs through a Michael Buble filter and put them on the internet is a fucking idiot.

Blur bassist Alex James has launched his own brand of ‘Britpop’ sparkling wine.The musician and professional cheesemaker announced the news of his latest venture on social media yesterday (August 2) – sharing a clip of himself on Twitter (X), showcasing the finished product.“Britpop sparkling wine. Perfect for the good times,” James began in the clip.