Blur frontman says Coachella show was ‘last gig’
Damon Albarn has cast doubt on the future of Blur after telling the Coachella that “this is probably our last gig” during the band’s set at weekend two of Coachella 2024 on Saturday.
Playing on the festival’s main stage for the second consecutive Saturday night, the Britpop legends, who sold out two hometown Wembley Stadiums shows last summer, reportedly experienced a lukewarm response from the Coachella audience across both weekends.
Blur’s appearance during the first Coachella weekend saw Albarn blasting an unenthusiastic audience that refused to respond to his calls to join in with a rendition of ‘Girls & Boys’. “You’re never seeing us again, so you might as well fucking sing it…” he told the crowd.
Faced with a similar quiet gathering on the second festival weekend, Albarn took the opportunity to address fans before launching into the last song of the set, Tender. “In the spirit of clarity and truth, this is probably our last gig,” he stated.
“I’m not saying I won’t do it again, it was a beautiful success, but I’m not dwelling on the past.
Despite being portrayed as an onstage tantrum, the statement backs up earlier hints that the current run for Blur has come to an end.
In December 2023, Albarn revealed the band would be going on hiatus after meeting its campaign obligations for album The Ballad of Darren. “It’s too much for me,” he reportedly said. “It was the right thing to do and an immense honour to play these songs again, spend time with these guys, make an album, blah-blah-blah.
“I’m not saying I won’t do it again, it was a beautiful success, but I’m not dwelling on the past.”
The reaction of the crowd would not have come as a surprise to Blur, as Albarn had noted in a radio interview prior to the band’s first Coachella show, “It’s a weird one Coachella when it comes to audience you know. It’s hard to know sometimes because they’re quite sort of on their own planet really.”
And while the backlash is being reported in the mainstream media as the end of the band, the Coachella appearance on 20 April was scheduled to be Blur’s final show for 2024, according to their own website.
Coachella 2025 has been confirmed for the weekends of April 11-13 & 18-20.
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Gorillaz cancel 2023 North America stadium tour
Gorillaz have scrapped their short run of stadium shows in North America, mere weeks after it was announced.
Damon Albarn’s virtual band was due to play four stadium shows in Los Angeles, Austin, Chicago, and Boston this September in support of their new album ‘Cracker Island’.
Kaytranada, Lil Yachty, and Remi Wolf were due to support the band on the outing, dubbed ‘The Gateway Tour’.
“Due to scheduling conflicts and circumstances beyond our control, the previously announced Gorillaz shows in September have been cancelled,” read a statement from ticket providers.
“We are gutted not to be able to perform for you this year”
“Refunds will be issued automatically at your point of purchase and will be processed as quickly as possible, there is nothing further for you to do at this time. Please allow for up to 30 days for the refund to process.”
Gorillaz themselves added: “We are gutted not to be able to perform for you this year. We were really looking forward to it and we hope to get back to you again as soon as we can. We love our Gorillaz family and we can’t wait to see you again.”
In April, Gorillaz performed both Coachella weekends, joined by a bevy of guests, including Bad Bunny, Beck, Yasiin Bey, Thundercat, Little Simz, Del the Funky Homosapien, and the surviving members of De La Soul.
Albarn is on tour with Blur this summer. The outing began last month with some intimate UK warm-up gigs ahead of the Britpop band’s two huge concerts at Wembley Stadium next month.
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Blur to regroup for one-off Wembley Stadium gig
Blur are regrouping for a one-off hometown headline show at London’s 90,000-cap Wembley Stadium next year.
Promoted by Metropolis Music, the Britpop legends will play the venue on 8 July with support from special guests Slowthai, Self Esteem and Jockstrap.
The band, who are represented by Ian Huffam of X-ray Touring, previously reunited in 2015 when they released their eighth studio album The Magic Whip and headlined BST Hyde Park, with the intervening years seeing frontman Damon Albarn focus much of his attention on his hugely successful Gorillaz project.
“We really love playing these songs and thought it’s about time we did it again”
“We really love playing these songs and thought it’s about time we did it again,” says Albarn.
“I’m really looking forward to playing with my Blur brothers again and revisiting all those great songs,” adds guitarist Graham Coxon. “Blur live shows are always amazing for me: a nice guitar and an amp turned right up and loads of smiling faces.”
Wembley also has confirmed dates for 2023 by Harry Styles (13-14 & 16-17 June) and a joint-headline show by Def Leppard & Motley Crue (1 July).
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Glastonbury goes global with ticketed livestream
Glastonbury will host an exclusive global livestream from its Worthy Farm festival site on 22 May, in lieu of the flagship event which was called off for a second consecutive year.
Coldplay, Damon Albarn, Haim, Idles, Jorja Smith, Kano, Michael Kiwanuka, Wolf Alice and DJ Honey Dijon will perform across the site’s landmarks – including the Pyramid Field and the Stone Circle – for the event, dubbed Live at Worthy Farm. There will also be a number of unannounced surprise performances.
The uninterrupted five-hour production will be shot by acclaimed Grammy-nominated director Paul Dugdale and co-promoted and produced by Driift, the pioneering UK livestream business which has hosted livestreams for Laura Marling, Nick Cave, Andrea Bocelli and Kylie Minogue.
“For one night only people all over the world will be able to join us on this journey through [Worthy Farm] together”
The performances will be interspersed by a spoken word narrative, written and delivered by special guests.
“After two Glastonbury cancellations, it brings us great pleasure to announce our first online livestream, which will present live music performances filmed across Worthy Farm at landmarks including the Pyramid and, for the first time ever, the Stone Circle,” says Glastonbury organiser, Emily Eavis.
“It will feature a rolling cast of artists and performers who have all given us enormous support by agreeing to take part in this event, showing the farm as you have never seen it. There will also be some very special guest appearances and collaborations. We are hoping this will bring a bit of Glastonbury to your homes and that for one night only people all over the world will be able to join us on this journey through the farm together!”
Live at Worthy Farm will support Glastonbury’s three main charitable partners, Oxfam, Greenpeace and WaterAid, as well as helping to secure next year’s edition.
Stagehand, the live production hardship fund that has been providing financial support to crew members throughout the pandemic, will receive the proceeds from a limited edition line-up poster for the event.
The online event will be broadcast in full across four separate time zones, with staggered livestreams. Tickets are on sale now at worthyfarm.live for £20/€23/US$27.50/A$35.
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Gorillaz, Beck perform in Animal Crossing
Gorillaz and Beck played their new song, ‘The Valley of the Pagans’, on the in-game Animal Crossing talk show on Friday (23 October).
The collaboration, which appears on Gorillaz’ new album, Song Machine Season One: Strange Timez, was performed by Gorillaz vocalist 2-D (aka Damon Albarn) and Beck, who appeared on Animal Talking, a talk show within the popular Nintendo Switch game, as virtual avatars.
The performance followed an interview with Gorillaz creators Albarn and Jamie Hewlett earlier in the programme, which is hosted by screenwriter and author Gary Whitta.
The animated band last week announced a short 2021 European tour, visiting Cologne, Berlin, Luxembourg’s Rockhal and the O2 in London next summer.
Animal Crossing is the latest video game to host a ‘concert’, with Gorillaz joining the growing ranks of artists who have performed as virtual versions of themselves. Notable videogame shows this year include Travis Scott and J Balvin in Fortnite, and several festivals in Minecraft, while 2019 saw Marshmello play Fortnite, Korn play AdventureQuest and the Offspring World of Tanks, among others.
IQ revealed recently that more than three quarters of a billion people – each one of them a potential concertgoer once the live business restarts – play video games regularly.
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