Released: July 26
Documenting their huge 2023 reunion shows at the iconic London venue, Blur’s new live LP is a showcase of the Britpop legends at the top of their game, firing through a two hour set of wall-to-wall anthems.
For more than three decades, the group has been a staple in British culture and over the course of the concert, Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon, Alex James and Dave Rowntree command the 150,000-capacity football venue in a manner befitting of the band’s legacy.
Selling out the venue is a feat beyond anything even they achieved back in the ‘90s – a sure sign of Blur’s enduring appeal – but as the 50-somethings dive into a setlist with an overarching sense of nostalgia, the unwavering quality of their output is immediately apparent and their performances driven by the passion that made them household names way back when.
Early tunes like Popscene and Beetlebum document the band’s formative years, while more recent offerings from last year’s ‘The Ballad Of Darren’, such as The Narcissist and St. Charles Square, were fresh at the time but are delivered with all the vigour and mastery of any of their older hits.
Touching on various eras in the band’s career, the live LP includes such classics as Girls And Boys, Oily Water and Villa Rosie, while anthems like Parklife and Song 2 explode into life and reaffirm their status among the best of their era. A couple of surprises are thrown in; Lot 105 gets its first performance since 1994, while the band also performs Under The Westway for the first time since 2014.
The irony of ‘Blur – Live At Wembley Stadium’ is that it almost feels like it’s 30 years too late – but therein lies its brilliance. A treat for the fans as much as it clearly was for the band themselves to be playing Wembley, the result is a defining record that spotlights a pivotal moment in Blur’s career that finds them at the top of their game and still rocking.
