It's been a hell of a do

Blur / Hyde Park / 3 July 2009

I think this band have broken me. I am sounding like a darts announcer; I have bruises in interesting places; my mind is still trying to come to terms with witnessing the Best Gig Ever (because if it really was best ever, is there any point going to gigs again?).
This is the band I have been waiting to see since I started liking bands. I missed out the first time round but even after they went separate ways while making Think Tank in 2003 I never gave up hope that my chance would come. And today was that day.
Heading down to London, a place so ingrained in the Blur story and sound I don't think I quite believed it was going to happen, not even when I was sat in front of the stage staring at the two huge backdrops (one map of LDN and one shipping map of the Isles). I don't think I really got to grips with where I was until Damon and Alex stepped onto the stage followed by Dave and Graham. Even there there was a period where my brain perpetually looped 'it's f*&ck$ng Blur' for me.
Curated like a festival, this was the original date put on sale when the band announced they had found a way to start talking, and playing, again. And there was a real festival feel to the arena in Hyde Park. Hand-picked support bands (Deerhoof, Florence & The Machine, Amandou and Miriam, Vampire Weekend) came and went through the afternoon. From the frontline there may have been a couple too many. By the time Vampire Weekend tried to get the singing and dancing going restless boredom and barely contained anticipation meant they weren't really given the reception they deserve.
But then we were all here for one thing only. To see one of the greatest, and most prolific, British bands of the last 20 years play together again.
It could have gone wrong though. This could have been the worst gig ever. This could have ended my love affair. If they'd been going through the motions, if they'd been doing this for the cash or the exposure, yeah, it could have gone bad.
I can't speak for them but to me this looked like friends doing something they loved. Damon strained at the leash of a microphone cord; Alex rested a foot on the monitor cigarette hanging lazily from his mouth; Dave kept the backline steady and Graham thrashed out and showed once again something only an idiot would question - that he is one of the greatest guitarists of his generation. They smiled, they laughed, they caused mosh mayhem down the front.
They gamboled through a two hour set of the finest from their back catalog. From opener She's So High into the frenzy of Girls and Boys with Damon leaning out over a crowd of cannibal kids. No respite as we head into Tracy Jacks and I wonder if a)the band and crowd can sustain this ferocity for the whole set b)whether mosh death is inevitable for me.
Their oldest and their newest (still years old) sit comfortably and seamlessly together. I'm taken again with how fresh songs like There's No Other Way and Chemical World sound despite nearing the two decade mark in age. Sure, they are of their time musically and lyrically but they still hold relevance and the sheer quality means these songs will be forever young.
Mass sing-a-longs were present throughout; Tender found a new sound as it was screamed from the lungs of everone present while Damon stood agape in front of us; Parklife (complete with Phil Daniels) & Country House escaped their hype and then, too soon, we were at This Is A Low. This song is immense, washing over you like the sea claiming a Beachy Head jumper. It is so British. So comforting and quietly insistent. There is no escape from this song; respite is not possible or wanted.
The first encore drove the mosh into a final frenzy with Popscene, Advert and Song Two hot on each others heels. And Song Two was the gloriously violent mosh death longed for. Scrolling Vote Dave across the back drop as he beat out the intro was a bluff, it lulled us. Then blinded by the lights and sonically bound by churning, jagged riffs yet elated by the woo-hoo we prepared to meet the end.
And if that was mosh death the second encore was the ascension. Death of a Party sounded less lo-fi downbeat and more tonic; For Tomorrow still the sweet ode to struggling through London life (in truth did any of want tomorrow at this point?) and then we really were facing the end.
The Universal expanded out from the stage, great orchestral bubbles rolling over us, Orwellian dystopia only becoming more accurate as time moves on. A spectacular ending to the gig I have been waiting forever for.
Did I get everything I wanted? No, but I got something much better in the end. This could only have been bettered if they had played each of their albums, in order, in full.
This didn't sound like a reunion gig. It was a reminder of all that has been before without feeling nostaligic. No, this sounded like a band who we need. Who are still relevant and if the recriminations are really done with who can deliver more musical joy. This was a reformation for the right reasons - for them, for us.
This was the officially the last gig of my 20s, it was the best gig I have ever been to, I don't know if the next decade can deliver anything better. It totally devastated me, in the best possible way. So, I wanna stay this way forever, if you don't mind?

And for more accurate reporting, less opinion of what happened here is what the NME said. You can also order the CD or download of the show from the Blur website.

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