Gig review: Blur

Published on Sunday 5 July 2009 22:12

**** HYDE PARK, LONDON

WHEN Britpop luminaries Blur announced they were playing Hyde Park, the 50,000 tickets for the venue sold out in just two minutes – not bad going for a band who had barely strummed a chord together since firing Graham Coxon back in 2002.

Now in their forties but lacking none of their energy, they came to London a band reborn – little wonder Damon Albarn bounded on to the stage with a grin as wide as the Serpentine.

Starting their two-hour set with She's So High, their debut single from all those years ago, Blur sounded as vital as ever. Boys & Girls had the crowd pogo-ing to its manic beat, while Tracy Jacks was a punkish singalong.

It wasn't all laddishness and lager. Out Of Time was dedicated to the two million people who marched into Hyde Park in 2003 to protest about the invasion of Iraq.

It was Tender, though, that really brought a sense of enormous wellbeing. As the sun emblazoned the sky in reds and yellows, its refrain of "love's the greatest thing" had strangers – who wouldn't so much as look at each other on the Tube – embracing like long-lost friends.

Blur were joined by a friend of their own – actor Phil Daniels – who appeared for his cockney cameo on Parklife, a song that Albarn claimed was inspired by this very park.

"We feel so privileged to have come back to this," said Albarn, gesturing at the sea of bodies in front of him.

As Song 2 snarled into gear for a triumphant encore, the privilege was all ours. Park life never felt so good.