Blur Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

Primavera Sound Madrid to be cancelled due to “safety reasons”.Today (Thursday June 8) was due to be the first day of the inaugural Primavera Sound in Madrid – a sister event to that in Barcelona and others around the world – but was cancelled yesterday “due to the persistent severe weather experienced in recent weeks that have affected the pre-production of the festival.”The festival added that the decision was made “in view of the adverse forecast that is expected for Thursday with heavy storms during the afternoon”. Acts due to perform on the opening day included Blur, Yard Act, Halsey, Ghost, Le Tigre, Turnstile and more.Now, photos and footage have emerged online showing the impact of the weather on the festival’s grounds at Ciudad del Rock in Arganda del Rey.“Primavera Sound cancels its concerts this Thursday, in exchange it offers its proposal for a water park,” wrote one user, sharing a video of the flooded and muddy site.

Blur brought fan-favourite ‘Country House’ back to their setlist at Primavera Sound last night (June 1), and played the rare track ‘Luminous’. Check out the setlist and footage below.The Brit-pop icons took to the stage for their headline set at the Barcelona festival, performing a series of classics, rarities and new tracks from their upcoming album, ‘The Ballad Of Darren’.One of the main highlights of the night came midway through their set, with Damon Albarn and co.

Noel Gallagher has explained that his younger self wouldn’t be too happy about his collaboration with Blur frontman and former Britpop rival Damon Albarn.The former Oasis member reflected on his time working with Albarn in 2017 in a new interview with The Big Issue (via Music-News.COM).The team-up in question was when Gallagher contributed backing vocals to Gorillaz‘s track ‘We Got The Power’, which appears on the band’s 2017 album ‘Humanz’. “What would my younger self think of me working with Damon Albarn,” he pondered.“It would depend entirely on what side of the bed I got out of on that day,” he added.

Blur played a second warm-up show for their 2023 reunion tour in Eastbourne last night (May 21) – watch them reunite with Phil Daniels for ‘Parklife’ below.The Britpop heroes first announced their comeback back in November with news of a huge Wembley Stadium show – before going on to reveal a second date at the venue before a run of European festival shows and an intimate UK warm-up tour.This week, the band also announced details of a surprise new album ‘The Ballad Of Darren’ and shared its first single, ‘The Narcissist’.On Friday night (May 19), the band played their first gig since 2015 in their hometown of Colchester, playing hits and new songs from ‘The Ballad Of Darren’.The Eastbourne gig featured largely the same setlist, and the notable appearance of Daniels for one of their biggest hits.Watch the ‘Parklife’ performance below.blur blowing the roof off Eastbourne Winter Gardens tonight…with a little help from the legend Phil Daniels. Sensational! pic.twitter.com/hZEbpsfB7j— ajyeet mabs (@AjyeetM) May 22, 2023In a press conference at Colchester Castle ahead of their gig at the town’s Arts Centre, Blur spoke about the recording process of their ninth studio album.“There were moments of utter joy,” enthused bassist Alex James.

Noel Gallagher has explained that his younger self wouldn’t be too happy about his collaboration with Blur frontman and former Britpop rival Damon Albarn.The former Oasis member reflected on his time working with Albarn in 2017 in a new interview with The Big Issue (via Music-News.COM).The team-up in question was when Gallagher contributed backing vocals to Gorillaz‘s track ‘We Got The Power’, which appears on the band’s 2017 album ‘Humanz’. “What would my younger self think of me working with Damon Albarn,” he pondered.“It would depend entirely on what side of the bed I got out of on that day,” he added.

Blur have spoken about recording their surprise new album ‘The Ballad Of Darren’.The 10-track LP, was announced earlier this week and is the band’s first since 2015’s ‘The Magic Whip‘. It was produced by James Ford (Arctic Monkeys, Foals, Depeche Mode) and recorded at Studio 13 in London and Devon.Speaking in a press conference at Colchester Castle ahead of their gig at the town’s Arts Centre last night (May 19), all four members opened up about the recording process of their ninth studio album.“There were moments of utter joy,” enthused bassist Alex James. “The new song we open with [‘St Charles Square’] I just thought, ‘Oh my God, we’ve pulled it back’.

Blur frontman Damon Albarn has said that Brexit has been a “travesty” in a new interview.Speaking to Channel 4, Albarn explained that Brexit has been a “disaster” for younger musicians.“In the old days, pre-Brexit, you could be a young band and go over to Europe and play bottom of the bill at festivals. You wouldn’t be paid hardly anything but the experience was life-changing, whether you went on to do bigger and better things in the future [or not]. That’s a solid foundation for the rest of your life,” Albarn said.“That kind of creativity has very much been curtailed for people on this island, because it’s expensive to go over there now.

Blur played an intimate warm up show in their hometown of Colchester last night (May 19) ahead of their two huge concerts at Wembley Stadium.The Britpop icons performed in front of a tiny crowd at the town’s Arts Centre for a two-hour set that saw the band pull from across their back catalogue and air two songs from their forthcoming new album ‘The Ballad Of Darren’.It comes after Colchester Council’s culture boss called for Blur to stage a reunion gig in the Essex city last year.Speaking about the gig, their first in eight years, ahead of their performance at a press conference in Colchester Castle, frontman Damon Albarn said: “How we play tonight is kind of how we will play at Wembley although hopefully it will be a bit better there. But the reason why we’re doing the shows at Wembley are exactly the same as why we’re doing this one here.”Kicking off with rollicking new track ‘St Charles Square’ from their forthcoming new album ‘The Ballad Of Darren’ – footage of which you can view below – the band then launched straight into classic hit single ‘There’s No Other Way’ before they performed 1992 rarity ‘Popscene’ for the first time since 2013.

Blur frontman Damon Albarn has said that he’d “put money on” an Oasis reunion.The singer was speaking as Blur themselves begin their comeback tour in their hometown of Colchester tonight (May 19).“I can guarantee they’re going to reform,” Albarn told The Sun of the chances of the Gallaghers burying the hatchet. “In fact, I’ve put money on it.”Discussing Blur’s ’90s nemeses, he added: “They’re brothers and it would be wonderful to see them reconcile.“The only funny thing is that our two nights at Wembley will be dwarfed by their SEVEN!”Three years ago, in a cover interview with NME about his solo career, Liam said that an Oasis reunion was “gonna happen very soon”.

Blur are coming out with a new album this summer. The Ballad of Darren is out July 21 via Parlophone, and will be the ninth studio project from Damon Albarn and Co.

Blur have announced details of a surprise new album ‘The Ballad Of Darren’ and shared the first single ‘The Narcissist’. Check it out below.The returning Britpop legends first announced their comeback back in November with news of a huge Wembley Stadium show – before going on to reveal a second date at the venue before a run of European festival shows and an intimate UK warm-up tour,  which kicks off in their hometown of Colchester tomorrow (Friday May 19).Now, the band have revealed that the 10-track ‘The Ballad Of Darren’ will arrive on 21 July via Parlophone, and is available for pre-order here.

Little Simz has opened up about her experience working with Damon Albarn, saying she will “always have so much love and respect” for the Blur and Gorillaz legend.The rapper linked up with Albarn in 2017, delivering a guest spot on the 2017 Gorillaz single ‘Garage Palace’ (which later appeared on the “super deluxe” edition of the ‘Humanz’ album). In a new interview with Apple Music 1, she told Zane Lowe (via Music News): “I remember first getting into the studio with [Albarn] for the first time, and my anxiety just being through the roof like, ‘This is mad…’“I felt myself trying to mold myself into what their thing was, and I remember Damon peeping it and being like, ‘No, that’s not why I called you in here.

Blur have announced a run of intimate UK warm-up shows for this spring – find all the details below.The Britpop icons are due to play two huge concerts at Wembley Stadium in London this July as part of their 2023 live reunion.Additionally, Damon Albarn and co. will perform an outdoor gig at Malahide Castle in Dublin and make appearances at Primavera Sound, Roskilde, Lucca Summer Festival, Flow Festival and Japan’s Summer Sonic.Today (April 25), Blur have confirmed that they’ll warm up for the comeback shows with four small dates next month.The stint will kick off with a performance at the 300-capacity Colchester Arts Centre on Friday, May 19.

The Anchoress, aka Catherine Anne Davies, has spoken to NME about her new single – a cover of New Order’s ‘Bizarre Love Triangle’ – as well as her new album and upcoming Spring tour.Davies has shared a number of covers over the past year as part of ‘Bandcamp Friday’ – with her rendition of New Order’s 1986 the latest in a line of indie classics. She recently received kudos from collaborators Manic Street Preachers for her take on ‘This Is Yesterday’.“Whenever I’ve done covers, the criteria has always been: is this a great song, and is there something new or different I can bring to it?” Davies told NME, having already covered songs by the likes of The Cure, Depeche Mode and Blur.

Lana Del Rey has shot straight to Number One in the UK albums chart with ‘Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd’.The singer-songwriter beat off competition from Depeche Mode‘s 15th full-length effort, ‘Memento Mori’ to score her sixth chart topping album, tying herself level Arctic Monkeys, Blur and Radiohead on the list of acts with the most UK Number One records to their name.Del Rey also ranks as the female solo artist with the fifth-most chart topping albums in the UK after Madonna (12), Taylor Swift (9), Kylie Minogue (8) and Barbra Streisand (7).She previously hit the top spot with ‘Born To Die’ (2012), ‘Ultraviolence’ (2014), ‘Lust For Life’ (2017), ‘Norman Fucking Rockwell!’ (2019) and ‘Chemtrails Over The Country Club’ (2021).‘Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd’ also tops the Official Vinyl Albums Chart, proving the most popular record of the week on wax, and is the week’s most-purchased LP in independent record shops, too.Reviewing Del Rey’s album, NME wrote: “As she steps into new lyrical territory here, so too does Lana enter new sonic worlds.

Blur have added The Selecter to the line-up of support acts for their second show at Wembley Stadium this summer.The Britpop icons are due to play two huge concerts at the London venue on July 8 and 9 as part of their 2023 live reunion. At the first gig, Damon Albarn and co.

Damon Albarn has reacted to Noel Gallagher‘s offer to “sprinkle” some “northern magic” on Gorillaz.While the pair were famously Britpop rivals throughout the ’90s, they have since become friends and Gallagher contributed backing vocals to Gorillaz’ 2017 track ‘We Got The Power’ featuring Jehnny Beth.Last month, the former the Oasis singer-songwriter then suggested that he could see them working together again during an interview with Radio X.“Yeah, me and him get on great. I love his band.

Blur have announced the support acts for their second show at Wembley Stadium this summer.The Britpop icons are due to play two huge concerts at the London venue on July 8 and 9 as part of their 2023 live reunion. At the first gig, Damon Albarn and co.

Taylor Swift, The 1975, Blur, Pixies, U2, London Grammar, Madonna, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Foals, Donna Summer and Björk.The 16th edition of the annual event comes after the recent news that in 2022, vinyl outsold the CD format for the first time in 35 years.“We can’t wait to be taking part in Record Store Day UK,” said Scott Gamble from Crash Records in Leeds. “It’s such a great chance for us – and others stores all over the country – to shout about  what we do and see the local music-loving community out in force.“Having such a great list of releases from household names through to brand new artists means we  get an opportunity to introduce our world to people who aren’t necessarily already part of our brilliant  set of regulars.

Blur drummer Dave Rowntree has shared a new video for his recent single ‘Devil’s Island’.Rowntree shared the track last month along with details of his forthcoming debut solo LP ‘Radio Songs’.Speaking about the clip, which was directed by Guy Gotto, he said: ““I was keen to work with Guy Gotto, who makes gorgeous and interesting video art. He visualised the song as a journey through a bleak but beautiful landscape.“We decided to film along the narrow gauge railway from Hythe to Dungeness, which runs through some of the most desolate but dazzling landscape in the country. A vista of abandoned boats, lighthouses and drama.

Blur drummer Dave Rowntree has announced details of his debut solo album ‘Radio Songs’ and shared new single ‘Devil’s Island’.The record, which is released via Cooking Vinyl on January 23, 2023, was produced by Leo Abrahams, who has previously worked with Wild Beasts, Brian Eno, Ghostpoet.“The idea of Radio Songs is me spinning through the dial,” he said. “It sounds like you’ve got a radio tuned to some static and you spin the dial, and the song pops out of it.

Graham Coxon and Rose Elinor Dougall have announced details of their debut album as The WAEVE – check out new single ‘Can I Call You’ below, and watch our video interview with the duo above.The former Blur guitarist-turned-solo star and the former Pipettes member-turned-Mark Ronson collaborator and singer-songwriter first emerged as a new project back in April with the track ‘Something Pretty‘, before playing a debut London show and appearing at The Great Escape.They’ve now revealed full details of their self-titled debut album, which has been produced by James Ford (Arctic Monkeys, Florence + The Machine, Foals) and is due for release in February 2023 via Transgressive Records.To mark the launch of the album Coxon invited NME into his house to interview The WAEVE, where they told us about their collaborative journey since they started work on the record over a year and a half ago.Asked if they’d consider themselves to be a “supergroup”, Dougall replied: “Don’t you need more than two people to be a supergroup? It’s a very strong line-up!”Coxon agreed: “I’m not sure! Those kinds of bands are put together in a different situation. The way we came together was very different.

Blur drummer Dave Rowntree has revealed that he composed the soundtrack for the second season of BBC drama The Capture.The first episode of the six-part season aired last night (August 28) with the second coming tonight (August 29), following on from a first season in 2019.Sharing the news of his score, Rowntree tweeted: “Watching the new series of The Capture tonight with friends. Hope you are too! Score by lil ol me and [Ian Arber].”A synopsis of the new season reads: “Escalating from the CCTV thriller of season one, this brand new six-part series sees DCI Rachel Carey (Holliday Grainger) in the middle of a new conspiracy – with a new target, MP Isaac Turner (Paapa Essiedu).“‘Invisible’ assassins, the terrifying rise of deepfake technology, the ever-growing tension between government and Big Tech and corruption at the heart of the British media… don’t miss the return of one of the year’s most anticipated dramas.”Watching the new series of The Capture tonight with friends.

Blur’s Dave Rowntree tweeted: “Brilliant! Just Brilliant!” Kasabian added: “Can’t believe it, historys been made! Congratulations to all the @Lionesses When you hit the wall you get back up again.”Others reacting to the news included The Rolling Stones’ Ronnie Wood tweeted “you’ve made us so proud” while The Subways wrote “standing ovation for every single woman who has taken part in this competition.”The Spice Girls tweeted “True #Girlpower right there.”Check out some more of the reactions here:Congratulations @Lionesses True #GirlPower right there ✌

Blur drummer Dave Rowntree has shared his debut solo single ‘London Bridge’. Check it out below, along with our interview with Rowntree discussing a new record on the way, politics, and what the future holds for Blur.Released on Cooking Vinyl and produced with Leo Abrahams (Wild Beasts, Brian Eno, Ghostpoet) the emotive synth-led track was inspired by the drummer’s childhood growing up in Colchester, before moving to London with Blur.“There was a phase in my life as a child when the number 126 would pop up everywhere,” Rowntree told NME.

Blur‘s Graham Coxon has announced details of his autobiography, Verse, Chorus, Monster!.The memoir is described as “an intimate, honest reflection on music, fame, addiction and art by one of Britain’s most iconic musicians.” It will be published on October 6 this year via Faber.A press release for the book reads: “Among the noise and clamour of the Britpop era, Blur co-founder Graham Coxon managed to carve out a niche to become one of the most innovative and respected guitarists of his generation – but it wasn’t always easy.“Graham grew up as an Army kid, moving frequently in his early years from West Germany to Derbyshire and Winchester before settling in Colchester, Essex. A shy child, he had a thing for eating soil and drawing intense visions; his anxiety was tempered by painting and a growing love of music.”It adds: “These twin passions grew into obsessions, and as he honed his artistic skill at school, Goldsmiths and beyond, his band with school friend Damon Albarn, fellow art student Alex James, and a drummer called Dave Rowntree began to get noticed.“But there are things they don’t tell you before you get famous.

The WAEVE, the new project from Graham Coxon and Rose Elinor Dougall, have released their first track in the form of ‘Something Pretty’ – listen below.The Blur guitarist-turned-solo musician and the former Pipettes member-turned-Mark Ronson collaborator announced they’d teamed up to form a duo last month, confirming that music would soon be arriving via Transgressive Records.Last night (May 4), THE WAEVE played an intimate launch show at The Lexington in London and are due to return to the venue for a second headline performance tomorrow (May 6).An image of the setlist from yesterday’s gig showed that the group played a nine-song set that included ‘Can I Call You’, ‘Drowning’, ‘Sleepwalking’, ‘Kill Me Again’ and ‘Say Something Pretty’.Today (May 5), The WAEVE shared the latter cut as a standalone single. “Unplug the radio/ Unplug the TV/ Unplug the internet/ And while you’re there unplug me,” Coxon sings over a drum machine beat off the heels of electrifying guitar shreds.In the raw, defiant chorus, Coxon and Dougall declare in unison that they “wanna be out in the city” enjoying “something pretty” instead.

Graham Coxon and Rose Elinor Dougall‘s new project The WAEVE have announced a second London show, due to high demand.The former Blur guitarist-turned-solo star and the former Pipettes member-turned-Mark Ronson collaborator previously shared details of an intimate launch show at The Lexington set for May 4.Following that gig selling out, The WAEVE have shared that they’ll be playing on May 6 as well. The new date will follow the release of their single ‘Something Pretty’ which is set to drop on May 5 via Transgressive Records.

Graham Coxon and Rose Elinor Dougall have teamed up to form the new project The WAEVE – announcing details of their first track and an intimate London launch show. Check out all the details exclusively on NME first below.On May 5, the former Blur guitarist-turned-solo star and the former Pipettes member-turned-Mark Ronson collaborator and singer-songwriter will share first taste of their material ‘Something Pretty’ via Transgressive Records.Ahead of that, they’ll be playing a special launch show at The Lexington in London on May 4.