or with everyone tripping over themselves (including me) with praise and fawning for Blur its almost like the last 6 years of music never happened? its almost like we've just been waiting for this moment when blur return to walk among us and show alot of the bands around now how indie music should be done. Also sought of makes you realise that the last 6 years have been influenced more by pulp and blur than oasis.
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"Now that's a boy who looks like he could produce sperm."
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yeah, does make you realise what a total lack of soul a lot of stuff nowadays has
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I know they weren't a revolution more a progression but were as most areas of music seem to have progressed a bit further in the last 6 years british guitar music seems to have remained the same. Its amost like the public as a whole are more ready for blur now than they were during britpop (god i hate that word).
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"Now that's a boy who looks like he could produce sperm."
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Blur have been great, but they've shown that their day has been and gone. It's quite sad wathing them play Girls and Boys again, because they can't mean it anymore.
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I was there and it was one of the best glasto performances i have seen. you can't base anything on the shite bbc coverage, the sound is flat for everything there.
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"I was there and it was one of the best glasto performances i have seen. you can't base anything on the shite bbc coverage, the sound is flat for everything there."
100% agree with that, one of the best Glasto performances ever. Loved the way the whole crowd sang along, from the front to the back. I remember moving about the crowd and everybody was singing wherever I went, quite amazing.
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I didn't think too many people would agree with it, I just couldn't see anything in the set to enjoy.
I am sure it would have been better had you been there, but I didn't enjoy watching it. It's a shame really because I saw them at the Barrowlands on the Think Tank tour and they were something to behold.
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i've watched it back 3 times on the i-player and it's still magnificent! it's a joy to see graham coxon in his element- he's clearly more comfortable taking a side role rather than as a front man- and what a fuckin guitarist
albarn's voice sounds good, i don't know how you can think otherwise
and as a body of work the songs are peerless amongst the britpop fraternity- played at the glasto gig with skill and just as importantly with loads of passion- it was a near perfect set whether you were there or watching it on tv......in my 8 glastonbury's, that set sits alongside radiohead 03 and arcade fire 07 as top 3 sets ever.
i know it's only opinion, but i struggle to see how you arrived at it
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I thought they were rubbish. It's an honest opinion. I thought the band sounded out of tune and just bland. They have next to no charisma. It was just dull.
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i thought Blur were amazing when i saw them at glastonbury. They actually looked like they were loving it rather than going through the motions like you could get with some bands who reform.
I think Albarn has a very good voice but i do agree he wasn't as brilliant as it once was but then he's not young anymore and obviously isn't going to be able to hit the notes that he could 15 years ago. At least he still sounds pretty good unlike someone like Liam Gallagher whos voice is embarrassing now.
Can't knock Blur's back catalogue though, it's up there with the best in my opinion.
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to be fair while i enjoyed blur a few days back, it was still noticable that albarns voive wasnt the best. it really wasnt, and i heard glasto was the same. enjoyable while you are there all the same
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I agree with that last bit, their back catalogue is brilliant and so ecclectic as well. I love the lo-fi direction Graham took them down, round about the Blur album. That was my favourite, I reckon. Blur and 13 were wonderful.
I am glad everyone enjoyed it that went along though. I seem to be in a minority of one, so I'm sorry I contributed to this thread. Just throwing my tuppenceworth in there.
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You're not the only one Niall. I wouldn't go as far as to say they were shite, and if I was there I'm sure I'd have thought they were amazing, but I agree with most of the "negative" comments in this thread:
Damon's voice wasn't particularly great.
Their timing was absolutely shocking at times, playing out of time with each other and playing songs far too fast.
But, as I said, had I been there I'd probably think they were brilliant.
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playing songs too fast for your taste, maybe, but they've always played the punky songs very, very fast live.
as faras being out of time with each other, that just isn't true - they were extremely tight.
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erm...i love blur but damon really, really can't sing and never could. if anything, he's learnt how to sing since blur split up. he certainly couldn't sing pre modern life
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I've seen them a couple of times and really enjoyed it. I might just have been ill and in a shit mood on Sunday night, but my overriding memory is that I didn't enjoy it so much.
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i think you're being hypercritical and a little bit ridiculous
no way on god's earth did they look tired
if the timing was off a touch it's hardly surprising given that they've not played to more than a few hundred people together for 10 years with the exception of this tour, but i can't say i've noticed and i've watched it live and recorded four times- and even if it was, it certainly didn't detract from the performance
but for a blur fan to say they didn't enjoy it i find a bit incredible
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yeah- because he has and has always had this self-serving smug way about him. i remember watching a documentary about his time in mali, and it was cringeworthy in places- him trying so hard not to sound patronising but not knowing how
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I think he's very charismatic. he's got a heart, and a soft side! and a beautiful voice- think tender, universal, out of time.... he's voice sounds beautiful on those tracks.
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I was into Blur when I was young & went to a brilliant gig in Essex, they were probably my fav 'Brit Pop' band but I'm not into them now or any other brit pop bands
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I see where Niall and lot of critics are coming from. For those of us that were able to have appreciated Blur at the time theye were at their most innovative and diverse, their reunion does seem a bit tacky.
Although personally, I think they seem to have a lot of energy and appear to have a lot of fun going through their old songs and seeing them live is still a laugh and a great time spent. Not to mention the fact they still shit on the majority of pretenders that make it into the 'NME Charts' and 'Indie Top 40'
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i really hate modern indie. or most of it anyway. I like electro mostly now, or folk. I love Panda Bear.
I think Blur are still amazing. I grew up with Blur, and I definitely don't think their reunion was in the slightest bit tacky. I think modern indie is rubbish.
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"Pete Doherty is way more of a twat than damon albarn ever was."
in turns of doing stupid, selfish and generally despicable things yes, but he also takes himself about 1/100 as seriously as albarn and has a sense of humour.
albarn is a humourless control freak who thinks he's the reincarnation of mozart
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dirtyfingernails is the best thing about .org at the mo
keep popsting
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I love Blur and The Good, the Bad and The Queen, but I agree with whoever said he's not the greatest of singers. Listen to the Green Fields original demo, it's horrendous!
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To be fair to him, in that demo he just sounds like he's mumbling and not even singing, just making sure he gets the melody down like a lot of folk do when they write songs and record the demo/idea
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As I said before - he has a lovely voice - universal, and out of tune, for example - his voice is just beautiful.
Perfect voices are so boring anyway. Bob Dylan is a terrible singer, ut his voice has so much character. Leonard Cohen has a small vocal range, but is incredible, for example.
And why the criticism for him taking his work seriously? There isn't a problem with taking pride in what you do, and he is a brilliant song writer.
Also, he seemed genuinely overwhelmed and moved with the positive response at Hyde Park - it was really sweet to see. And tears came to his eyes at Glastonbury. That's hardly smug behaviour.
I love Damon :)
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I have every Blur album but no longer listen to them and can't say i'm remotely interested in their come back. I watched bits of the Glastonbury set and thought it was quite easily the worst out of all the headliners performing.
All in all, in my opinion every band has its time period. Bands should pick one of the following two routes, The Beatles route - where you completely pack it in and fondly reflect on what you had without ever tarnishing it or The Rolling Stones route - where you pack in making good music, still can fondly reflect on what you had but continue performing to become a cringeworthy travelling circus.
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