“Live At Wembley Stadium”: two unforgettable concerts to discover in a double live album

Blur are releasing a double live album on Friday that captures their two historic concerts at Wembley Stadium in London in 2023. A sort of giant best-of for this long-awaited return, with all the energy of a cult band.

In 2023, after eight years of absence, Blur returned to the stage to present their 9th album: the melancholic The Ballad Of Warren. Two concerts followed one another at the legendary Wembley Stadium, the place that the famous Britpop group was investing for the first time in London. The singer, Damon Albarn, confided then that before, in the great era, this place would have “terrified beyond reason”. These two live albums are brought together in a double album, Live At Wembley Stadiumwhich comes out Friday, July 26.

This July 8, 2023, for their first appearance at Wembley Stadium in London, the audience was not reassured. Blur had just canceled their appearance at the Beauregard festival to protect Dave Rowntree, the drummer injured in the knee. The London stadium was electrified when the group took to the stage in style. With 75,000 spectators on Saturday, as many the next day, the group was at full strength and Damon Albarn was in great shape. The album The Ballad Of Darren comes out two weeks later, and causes a cascade of hits.

A year later, Blur were able to measure during a major international tour that their status as the world’s rock flagship had not been affected by the years. Even if, during their last concert at Coachella last April, Damon Albarn had noted, dismayed, that the audience did not know a single word.

One more reason to celebrate two already legendary concerts, two evenings to keep the flame of Blur alive, while waiting for the group to decide on its very uncertain future.