The mythical Britpop group known for its titles “Song 2”, “Beetlebum”, “Girls and Boys”, is organizing a new tour this summer. The opportunity to present his ninth studio album, The Ballad of Darren, which is scheduled for release on July 21.
It is good news for fans. Eight years after their last tour, The Magic Whip, British rock band Blur are back on stage this summer and preparing their next album. “It’s like traveling back in time, the audience is young again”confides the singer of the quartet Damon Albarn to AFP. Famous for his titles Song 2, Beetlebum, Charmless manor girls and boysBlur enjoyed great success in the 1990s.
First time at Wembley
On the occasion of its 2023 tour, the London group gave a first significant concert at the Primavera festival in Madrid in early June and is due to perform at the legendary Wembley stadium in London on July 8 and 9. Provided that its drummer, Dave Rowntree, currently injured, is recovered in time. The group has already had to cancel its visit to the Beauregard festival, in Hérouville-Saint-Clair, on July 6.
The two Wembley dates will be a first for Blur. “It would have terrified me at the time beyond reason, with panic attacks and everything”, confesses Damon Albarn. When anxiety peaks, the fifties takes refuge in yoga. “If I manage to do it almost every day, I’m calm”, continues the singer. A healthy practice, light years away from the excesses of rock that marked his early years. “It was heroin, I hit that, 100 years ago, and now it’s yoga”.
Ten unreleased tracks
With the release of his new album, The Ballad of Darren, scheduled for July 21, the emblematic group of Britpop offers a new youth. This ninth studio album is only the second in stores for Blur in twenty years. If the London quartet has never really separated, its history has been written in ellipsis since 2003.
The announcement of a new album surprised everyone, even the other members of Blur. “I had not told anyone that I was writing it”, explains Damon Albarn. The singer composed the disc last year, while he was in full US tour with Gorillaz, his other group. “I came back in January and told the others to Blur “Come to the studio, I have something to play for you”“. The Brit presented them with twenty titles and asked them to choose their favourites. There are ten left.
This return is accompanied by rave reviews in the United Kingdom. A godsend for Damon Albarn, more accustomed to international recognition with his group Gorillaz. “It feels good, people suddenly realize that I still exist, but England hasn’t been a place where I feel welcome for a while”. The artist has never hidden his opposition to Brexit: he bought a house in Iceland and found in France a land of welcome for unexpected works. Like his opera, Le Vol du Boli, premiered in Paris. A second opera, also developed in the French capital, is in preparation for next year.