Blur were the darlings of the slightly more foppish ’90s indie kids. You know, the ones who thought Oasis too harsh for their delicate taste.
Well, after a spell away — with one band member off making music with cartoon characters (Damon Albarn with the band Gorillaz), one doing permanent collaborations (Graham Coxon), one working as a solicitor (Dave Rowntree), and another moving to the country to make cheese (Alex James) — they’re back.
The new album crafted in Hong Kong has been followed by a huge tour, with Abu Dhabi being the last gig of 2015. The shows have had great reviews, yet you can almost feel the collective mindset of the mixed crowd, which is “just play the hits!”
Albarn and the boys play us a few of the “new ones” and polite applause ensues. Then the words we have all waited for arrive: “We’re gonna play the ones you know, now.” Gentle clapping turns to cheering as the familiar sounds of Coffee and TV ring out.
We are then rocketed back to the mid ’90s with Park Life, Tender and The Universal: some of the band’s most famous hits.
Albarn looks barely different from the period when he featured on the cover of NME as an angry youth. The difference is that now the surliness is gone and he is clearly loving being on stage. The band seem genuinely delighted that the F1 gig is not just them playing to Bernie Ecclestone, his entourage and few mechanics at a loose end.
They are a band who are consistent gig after gig. If you saw them in 1997, you could mistakenly believe they were cryogenically frozen and thawed out to perform exactly the same show in 2015. If a band can do that they may not gain a whole set of new fans, but they will keep the old ones very happy.
The gig winds up with Girls and Boys, End of a Century and Song 2. A quick Google check confirms this is their only greatest hits set this year. Abu Dhabi has been delivered a real treat by Albarn and his collective, and as far as Blur still having it, well, it seems they never lost it.