April 22, 2014

The real reason why Blur cancelled on Australia's Big Day Out

A Big Day Out promoter says Blur pulled out of this year's music festival because members of the reformed Britpop act were having "fisticuffs" (fights) while on tour last year.

 It's the latest round in an ongoing dispute between the band and the annual Australasian music event that started when Blur pulled out of their headlining slots, despite having their own personalised stage built at every venue.

 Two weeks ago, Damon Albarn told TimeOut Blur cancelled over fears the shows - which he said would have been Blur's last - wouldn't be as "spiritually conclusive as we hoped they would be". "They [the organisers] weren't being straight with me about things, which they needed to be, and at that point I became disillusioned because I didn't want what we'd done throughout the year, with Blur, to be undermined or tarnished in any way, by a show that wasn't going to be what we wanted to do," Albarn said.

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But Big Day Out co-promoter AJ Maddah has hit back at those claims, telling Australian website The Vine the band's four members "didn't want to see each other". "The fact (is) that the band (was) having fisticuffs on tour in South America. And that's why they cancelled the tour because they don't want to see each other. "Damon has a solo record coming out. The other three members were desperate to come out. You know, Graham (Coxon) and the other guys wanted to do it. Essentially Damon cancelled the tour."

 In excerpts of the interview, which is billed as "exclusive" and hasn't yet been published in full, Maddah also claims Blur were being paid A$5 million (NZ$5.4m) for their shows - an amount he labelled "ridiculous".

Blur were replaced by Deftones, Beady Eye and The Hives, and more than 41,000 people showed up for the festival's first show at Western Springs in Auckland - just under a sell out capacity of 45,000.

Source: nzherald.co.nz


April 29, 2013

Blur to headline Australian festival Big Day Out - 2013

Britpop heroes Blur are shaping up as headliners for the Big Day Out next year, according to industry sources.

Damon Albarn and co haven't performed in Australia since reuniting and returning to the touring circuit in 2009, the year they starred at iconic UK festival Glastonbury. Many fans had the Londoners on their wish list for this year's Splendour in the Grass festival, to be held at the North Byron Parklands in New South Wales in late July, when Blur have dates in Italy. The band touring schedule consists mostly of festival dates until early September.


With the Splendour line-up out of the bag this week, sources now suggest that the Big Day Out will host Blur's long-awaited return to Australia. The BDO bill won't be revealed until about mid-July. Blur, who won the Brit Award for outstanding contribution to music last year, were reportedly working with producer William Orbit on the follow-up to 2003 album, Think Tank, but those sessions were subsequently shelved.

However, the quartet, consisting of singer Albarn, guitarist Graham Coxon, bassist Alex James and drummer Dave Rowntree, did release two singles, The Puritan and Under the Westway, last July.

Blur have earned an incredible dozen UK Top 10 hits. Albarn has worked on various side projects such as Gorillaz and the Good, the Bad and the Queen. He features on the debut album for Dutch modern soul man, the Child of Lov, released next week.

Source: Yahoo Australia News 

Blur Tour 2013 - Full dates and rundown  HERE
Blur @ Coachella- video and image gallery HERE 
Blur confirmed for Mexico HERE
Blur Europe Tour News  HERE
Order the new Blur: Parklife (Live at Hyde Park CD / DVD) HERE

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October 12, 2012

Blur World Tour 2013 - What's On

The long-awaited hopes that Blur will do a world tour may just be on the horizons. According to a band touring company, Blur is going to play a massive world tour for 2013 - and this time it's going to be truly global. 

In a recent INTERVIEW , Ian Huffman off X-Ray Touring revealed that "Blur is planning a relatively extensive world tour next year, including Europe, Japan, South America and Australia."


Huffman also said that the European dates will “likely run through to mid summer”. This means that a visit to Australia in the second half of 2013 is  very likely, meaning a new festival to headline: Splendour In The Grass.

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Splendour In The Grass music festival is held in Byron Bay, and has featured many famous British bands  in recent years including Britpop band Pulp in 2011 and Happy Mondays in 2009. Hence, Blur is highly likely to be playing there with their fellow UK bands in late July. 

Oh, and Oasis may also play in Australia this summer. Liam Gallagher’s BEADY EYE is likely to make a visit to the music festival- a place on the Fuji rock festival makes him a decent chance for Splendour. 

Blur recently tweeted (official Twitter here) plans to play in places where they didn't toured for a long time. The last time Blur was in Australia was 16 years ago - and so, again Blur are most probably going to head to Australia next year. 


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Apart from rumours about Australia, Japan, Blur has just announced that they will headline Spain and Portugal's Primavera Sound Music Festival in May 2013, then the Rock Werchter Festival in Belgium next July 2013. 

They're also rumoured for UK's Glastonbury, Reading, Leeds and Japan. Looks like it's not just Europe after all.



Blur Tour 2013 Summary 

2013 Dates Country Description
22nd May - 26th May30 

MAY–02 JUNE

July 4th - July 7th 
Spain


Portugal



Belgium 
Barcelona Primavera Sound Festival



Primavera Sound Festival Porto


Rock Werchter Festival 


Stay tuned for the latest updates on Blur's massive World Tour 2013. 



Order the new Blur: Parklife (Live at Hyde Park CD / DVD) HERE
Order the new Blur boxset HERE
Blur first ever 2012 gig-  Maida Vale gig full coverage HERE
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Blur Europe Tour News  HERE

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