Blur - Hyde Park, London
London has been experiencing something of a heatwave for the last week (UK heatwave = more than 3 days above 30 degrees) but the good news is it meant we got cracking weather for this Thursday night Blur concert in Hyde Park.
When Blur announced they were reuniting for the first time in 10 years - this was actually the first show they put on sale so Kim and I were stoked to get tickets. Subsequently they announced a raft of additional shows, including a headline slot closing Glastonbury festival last Sunday night, so the main thing we've been doing is trying to avoid spoilers so we get a few surprises and enjoy the show without too many preconceptions.
The other big news - on a more personal level - was because of the warmer weather our little boy Milo has been waking a lot during night, so rather than leave him with our kindly volunteer first babysitter (thanks Mich!) we thought we'd take him along to his first proper gig (technically he has seen Tom Waits and Springsteen while in the womb - but this is his first gig "on the outside").
I'm glad we did take him along as the environment was really good for an almost 8 month old. The area of Hyde Park reserved for the concert was enormous, so with a lot of the crowd trying to get as close to the front as possible, it was positively spacious for us old folk at the back. Plus Milo was loving it. Hanging out with Dad in the Baby Bjorn carrier, and decked out in his bright neon green Peltor Kid hearing protectors (believe me, they looked way cooler than the name suggested - so much so we had several random strangers photograph him!). We even brought along our picnic blanket so we could sit and eat some dinner before Blur came along. Very civilized.
I'm pretty sure it's been remarked upon before just how many great singles Blur have released. It's actually almost daunting when you hear them all in the same show. Kicking off, appropriately enough with their very first single "She's So High" before moving into an excellent "Girls & Boys" that seemed to have the whole park bobbing along. And the hits just kept on coming: "There's No Other Way", a fantastic "Beetlebum" played just as the sun was setting. "Out of Time" my favorite song from the much-maligned final Blur Album 'Think Tank'. The Graham Coxon sung "Coffee & TV" is one of Kim's fave's so that was good to hear. The biggest response of the night came with "Parklife", as Damon explained it was written about this very park, and actor Phil Daniels made a guest-appearance to delivery the mockney spoken verses. A trio of great slower numbers gave the crowd a chance to catch their collective breaths towards the end of the main set: "End of a Century", into "To The End" and "This Is A Low".
The first encore kicked off with a blistering "Song 2" and suprisingly included the fan-favorite "Death of A Party". We thought we'd beat the rush by heading off during the final encore, but managed to hear the lovely "For Tomorrow" playing away in the distance as we walked home. Apparantly they closed with "The Universal" although we were probably close to tucked up in bed by this stage.
Full setlist:
01 She's So High
02 Girls & Boys
03 Tracy Jacks
04 There's No Other Way
05 Jubilee
06 Badhead
07 Beetlebum
08 Out Of Time
09 Trimm Trabb
10 Coffee & TV
11 Tender
12 Country House
13 Oily Water
14 Chemical World
15 Sunday Sunday
16 Parklife
17 End Of A Century
18 To The End
19 This Is A Low
20 Popscene
21 Advert
22 Song 2
23 Death Of A Party
24 For Tomorrow
25 The Universal
When Blur announced they were reuniting for the first time in 10 years - this was actually the first show they put on sale so Kim and I were stoked to get tickets. Subsequently they announced a raft of additional shows, including a headline slot closing Glastonbury festival last Sunday night, so the main thing we've been doing is trying to avoid spoilers so we get a few surprises and enjoy the show without too many preconceptions.
The other big news - on a more personal level - was because of the warmer weather our little boy Milo has been waking a lot during night, so rather than leave him with our kindly volunteer first babysitter (thanks Mich!) we thought we'd take him along to his first proper gig (technically he has seen Tom Waits and Springsteen while in the womb - but this is his first gig "on the outside").
I'm glad we did take him along as the environment was really good for an almost 8 month old. The area of Hyde Park reserved for the concert was enormous, so with a lot of the crowd trying to get as close to the front as possible, it was positively spacious for us old folk at the back. Plus Milo was loving it. Hanging out with Dad in the Baby Bjorn carrier, and decked out in his bright neon green Peltor Kid hearing protectors (believe me, they looked way cooler than the name suggested - so much so we had several random strangers photograph him!). We even brought along our picnic blanket so we could sit and eat some dinner before Blur came along. Very civilized.
I'm pretty sure it's been remarked upon before just how many great singles Blur have released. It's actually almost daunting when you hear them all in the same show. Kicking off, appropriately enough with their very first single "She's So High" before moving into an excellent "Girls & Boys" that seemed to have the whole park bobbing along. And the hits just kept on coming: "There's No Other Way", a fantastic "Beetlebum" played just as the sun was setting. "Out of Time" my favorite song from the much-maligned final Blur Album 'Think Tank'. The Graham Coxon sung "Coffee & TV" is one of Kim's fave's so that was good to hear. The biggest response of the night came with "Parklife", as Damon explained it was written about this very park, and actor Phil Daniels made a guest-appearance to delivery the mockney spoken verses. A trio of great slower numbers gave the crowd a chance to catch their collective breaths towards the end of the main set: "End of a Century", into "To The End" and "This Is A Low".The first encore kicked off with a blistering "Song 2" and suprisingly included the fan-favorite "Death of A Party". We thought we'd beat the rush by heading off during the final encore, but managed to hear the lovely "For Tomorrow" playing away in the distance as we walked home. Apparantly they closed with "The Universal" although we were probably close to tucked up in bed by this stage.
Full setlist:
01 She's So High
02 Girls & Boys
03 Tracy Jacks
04 There's No Other Way
05 Jubilee
06 Badhead
07 Beetlebum
08 Out Of Time
09 Trimm Trabb
10 Coffee & TV
11 Tender
12 Country House
13 Oily Water
14 Chemical World
15 Sunday Sunday
16 Parklife
17 End Of A Century
18 To The End
19 This Is A Low
20 Popscene
21 Advert
22 Song 2
23 Death Of A Party
24 For Tomorrow
25 The Universal
