Blur Live @ The Wolverhampton Civic Hall Wednesday 24th June 2009.


Blur are a band I grew up with and after years of anticipation of will they, won't they play again I'd all but given up the ghost. Then out of nowhere the announcement came of the two Hyde Park gigs, which was shortly followed by announcements of warm up shows around the country. That brings us to this hot summer evening in Wolverhampton at the not surprisingly packed out Civic Hall.

As I stood in the Civic I found it hard to believe that it was Blur I was waiting for to come on stage, and then to massive cheers the band entered looking like they haven't aged a day between them. Almost instantly they went into the classic 'She's So High''. The crowd cheered and sang along to every word. It's a great song and a favourite of many Blur fans but I was curious as to what they'd play next. As soon as they finished the track they burst into 'Girls and Boys' and the crowd loved it. The way Damon danced around the stage showed us that this was very much a Parklife era Blur we were seeing. Full of fun and energy and just the right time.

A little later in the evening Damon picked up his acoustic guitar and with the rest of the band delivered an epic version of 'Beetlebum'. The crowd were so into this gig. It was easy to realise that this was an emotional evening for the band. Straight from 'Beetlebum' into Think Tank's 'Out Of Time'. This was the first time I'd ever heard this track played live and it was excellent. The track finished and the crowd erupted into a "Graham! Graham!" chant.

The set list contained some songs I never expected. 'Jubilee', 'Trimm Trabb', 'To The End' and 'Oily Water' were all played to a great responses. I'm sure the highlight of a lot of people's evening was when the sample of dogs barking echoed the Hall, which was of course the cue for 'Parklife'.

They initially ended with 'This Is A Low' and I can honestly say I've never heard fans inside the Civic Hall cheer so loud as they were at this point. Damon and crew came back onto the stage for the first encore of the evening. We were treated to 'Popscene', 'Advert' and of course 'Song 2'. At this point Blur once again left the stage to deafening cheers. Encore number 2 was opened with 'For Tomorrow' and ended with the greatest version of 'The Universal' I've ever heard.

It must be a hard for a band to live up to the hype after being away from the limelight so long, but on this night Blur delivered in a massive way. People, including myself were so pleased to have them back. They have been missed in a big way. As they finished their set I thought to myself that without Blur it can truly be said that 'Modern life Is Rubbish'.


For those interested the full set list was as follows:

She's So High
Girls And Boys
Tracy Jacks
There's No Other Way
Jubilee
Badhead
Beetlebum
Out Of Time
Trimm Trabb
Coffee And TV
Tender
Country House
Oily Water
Chemical World
Sunday Sunday
Parklife
End Of A Century
To The End
This Is A Low


Encore:
Popscene
Advert
Song 2

Encore 2:
For Tomorrow
The Universal