First look: Blur at Vive Latino Festival Mexico (Pictures)

Blur played Mexico City's Vive Latino Festival on March 16th 2013. According to many fans who went to watch the band live, the show was an exceptional one - the "best Blur had ever sounded".

Damon Albarn - Looking young and hip at Vive Latino 2013 

Damon waving a Mexican percussion instrument - "Almost hitting his face" said a fan

Blur drummer Dave Rowntree also did an exclusive 15-minute interview with Radio Ibero (Ibero 90.0 FM) about the 2013 shows. The drummer sounded positive and high in spirits, exclaiming that the show had a "packed audience, jumping up and down. That's why we do this really, it's lovely. You can see it was the real fans, everybody from the front to the back knew all the words, it was just lovely." 

He also mused on Blur's current popularity high. "We got more famous by releasing less music", Dave said. 

"Last time we weren't selling tickets out in 10 minutes, we weren't playing big festivals. Mystique as been growing around us."

"We became way better known and more popular for doing nothing. I can't explain it." 

- Dave Rowntree, 2013 Tour

He seems to be ambiguous about a new Blur album. "It was all really good fun" he said, when asked to describe the 2013 gigs. "This is an extension to that. We did a few shows leading up to [Hyde Park] and we thought it really wasn't possible to do something in London. So why not do some wider touring, for the longer-suffering fans around the world who hasn't seen us in a decade". So it seems this tour is merely to please the wider fans, but not to make a new album.

So why now? Dave said it was a "logical progression" to "try things out" this time, and that previous tours didn't satisfy the global demands of Blur fans. They have recorded some things, but there seems to be no plans to release more future songs so far.

Listen to the audio recording of the excellent interview below.

Dave Rowntree [Entrevista] by Ibero909fm on Mixcloud

Watch Blur at Vive Latino 2013

Blur: Vive Latino Mexico City - Setlist:

Popscene 
There's No Other Way
Girls & Boys 
Tracy Jacks 
Beetlebum 
Out of Time 
Trimm Trabb 
Caramel 
Coffee & TV 
Tender 
Country House 
Parklife 
Song 2 
Advert 
End of a Century 
This Is a Low 

Encore :
Under The Westway 
For Tomorrow 
The Universal

For more pictures, check out this album on Facebook. Visit this gallery of professional shots HERE.

Blur adds Mexican warm-up date - Vive Latino Festival 2013

Another new Blur 2013 date has been confirmed - this time Blur has announced their first warm-up gig in Mexico City just before their big gig in the Vive Latino Festival, which takes place from the 14th - 17th March 2013. The announcement came shortly after Blur announced a new tour date in Indonesia.

The warm-up date will begin at 8:00pm in El Plaza Condesa, Mexico City on March 15th 2013. The band will take the stage on the 16th March for the main concert.

Blur is set to be one of Vive Latino Festival's biggest main bands. Other featured artists in the festival include Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes, Morrissey and Underworld. The band last played in Mexico during their 2003 tours to promote album 'Think Tank'. They also visited Mexico and played for fans in the Metropolitan Theatre in 1999.

According to the information that has been released, tickets for this show will cost 780 Pesos and can be purchased from the pre-sale on February 18th through the Ticketmaster system.

Visit the official El Plaza Condesa website for more information about the concert and ticketing prices.

Check out our Blur World Tour page for all the dates in a convenient table. 

Blur Tour 2013 - Full dates and rundown  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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