September 14, 2013

Festival Coverage: Blur live in the Berlin Festival 2013

Blur played an eventful show in the Berlin Festival in Germany on September 6th 2013. The gig, which featured other artists such as Bjork, Franz Ferdinand, Ellie Goulding, My Bloody Valentine and Pet Shop Boys, received generally positive reviews from fans and critics alike.

Blur closed the music festival by playing on the main stage, where their performance was deemed "extraordinary" and acknowledged as "one of the best the festival's ever seen".

berlin festival blur, blur berlin festival 2013, blur berlin setlist, blur germany 2013, blur germany video, blur live 2013, blur tour 2013, blur tour pictures, damon albarn glasses, watch blur 2013,

It has been ten years since Blur last played a show in Germany. In an interview before the concert, bassist Alex James revealed that he had a past connection with the nation: "It’s great to be here, I love Germany, I did a student exchange to Hannover when I was 17".

When asked about what the band expects from the German fans, he remarked: "We are going to enjoy ourselves, and that usually rubs off on the crowd. We’ve had some great gigs in Berlin over the years and I think we’ll be going out for a few beers afterwards. We’re up for it and I think everyone else is, too.

berlin festival blur, blur berlin festival 2013, blur berlin setlist, blur germany 2013, blur germany video, blur live 2013, blur tour 2013, blur tour pictures, damon albarn glasses, watch blur 2013,

User hendrik from the official Blur forums gives his review of the gig:

Berlin was great! It felt like a pretty small crowd (the festival in general, Blur still drew the most people for the night) which made for good spots and a very relaxed viewing. The setlist was a bit unsurprising but the band's as tight as ever and in good spirits too. Damon's German skills aren't too shabby either. For their first outing in the [Germany] in a decade, it was simply a very good show by a very good band.

Another Blur fan Liese also went to the Blur show and says:

I have seen the band playing live multiple times in 2009 and 2012, and I often think German crowds are rather boring, so I really considered not going to see Blur's first German gig in 10 years. I did not expect much more than the setlist I had seen and heard many other times; I could not have been more wrong- I was blown away! [Blur] were even tighter than last year, in high spirits, witty, and not to forget Damon's [not-so-bad] German!

berlin festival blur, blur berlin festival 2013, blur berlin setlist, blur germany 2013, blur germany video, blur live 2013, blur tour 2013, blur tour pictures, damon albarn glasses, watch blur 2013,

Besides Damon speaking rather fluent German, more special events occurred during the gig night - Phil Daniels made a special appearance during the hit 'Parklife', and Damon Albarn also donned on framed glasses at one point during the gig. The Blur frontman looked much younger than his age, resembling his youthful self back in the heydays of the Britpop nineties.

Image Gallery - Blur at the Berlin Festival 2013

berlin festival blur, blur berlin festival 2013, blur berlin setlist, blur germany 2013, blur germany video, blur live 2013, blur tour 2013, blur tour pictures, damon albarn glasses, watch blur 2013,
berlin festival blur, blur berlin festival 2013, blur berlin setlist, blur germany 2013, blur germany video, blur live 2013, blur tour 2013, blur tour pictures, damon albarn glasses, watch blur 2013,
berlin festival blur, blur berlin festival 2013, blur berlin setlist, blur germany 2013, blur germany video, blur live 2013, blur tour 2013, blur tour pictures, damon albarn glasses, watch blur 2013,
Graham Coxon Germany
berlin festival blur, blur berlin festival 2013, blur berlin setlist, blur germany 2013, blur germany video, blur live 2013, blur tour 2013, blur tour pictures, damon albarn glasses, watch blur 2013,
berlin festival blur, blur berlin festival 2013, blur berlin setlist, blur germany 2013, blur germany video, blur live 2013, blur tour 2013, blur tour pictures, damon albarn glasses, watch blur 2013,
berlin festival blur, blur berlin festival 2013, blur berlin setlist, blur germany 2013, blur germany video, blur live 2013, blur tour 2013, blur tour pictures, damon albarn glasses, watch blur 2013,
berlin festival blur, blur berlin festival 2013, blur berlin setlist, blur germany 2013, blur germany video, blur live 2013, blur tour 2013, blur tour pictures, damon albarn glasses, watch blur 2013,
berlin festival blur, blur berlin festival 2013, blur berlin setlist, blur germany 2013, blur germany video, blur live 2013, blur tour 2013, blur tour pictures, damon albarn glasses, watch blur 2013,

To see the full gallery of Blur in Berlin (45 images), visit our Facebook album here.

Blur at Berlin Festival - 9/6/13 Setlist:

Girls & Boys 
There's No Other Way 
Beetlebum 
Out of Time 
Trimm Trabb 
Caramel 
Coffee & TV 
Tender 
To the End 
Country House 
Parklife (ft. Phil Daniels) 
End of a Century 
This Is a Low 

Encore: 
Under the Westway 
For Tomorrow 
The Universal 
Song 2

The Clash Magazine's review of the Berlin Festival mentioned Blur, saying that Blur took to the stage with the "minimum of fuss: a denim-clad and floppy limbed Damon Albarn launches straight into the perfect opening triple-whammy of ‘Girls & Boys’, ‘There’s No Other Way’ and ‘Beetlebum’."

The article goes on to detail the gig and Damon Albarn's idiosyncratic actions: "Inevitably, this goes down rather well with the audience. Albarn provides the only precipitation of the day by continually launching water from the bottle he’s drinking from over the front row. Not that anyone there seems to mind too much. Things take a sombre turn when Albarn asks the crowds to think of Syria before launching into a particularly melancholic take on 2003 single ‘Out Of Time’, written due to Albarn’s disillusionment at UK participation in the Iraq War."

Watch the show - Videos of Blur live at the Berlin Festival 

Once again, fans captured the best moments from the Germany gig. Scroll down to watch Damon Albarn borrowing a fan's spectacles and putting them on while he sings Country House, Damon asking the crowd to remember the crisis in Syria and the band performing a spiced-up version of the intro of 'Song 2'.



(Damon asks the crowd to remember Syria)

(Damon borrows a fans' glasses)








Don't forget to check out a short review of the show here. For fans who are fluent in German, read a local review of the exciting night here.

View more pictures of the other acts in the Berlin Festival by clicking HERE.

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

SUBSCRIBE NOW!

Never miss any Blur news again. If you missed old news, visit the NEWS ARCHIVE to read about past news!

Remember to subscribe to RSS and "LIKE" BlurBalls on Facebook.


March 17, 2013

First Blur Concert 2013: El Plaza Condesa - Gallery

PICTURES, fan photos, drawings and fan photography, as well as official images have emerged after Blur played their first concert of 2013 in Mexico City on March 15th 2013. The warm up gig was held in El Plaza Condesa, where Blur played a conventional set-list of their biggest hits, including 'The Universal', 'Song 2', 'Advert', 'Country House', 'Beetlebum', 'Caramel' and new single 'Under The Westway'.

blur el plaza condesa, blur mexico 2013 pictures, blur pictures 2013, blur mexico, blur tour 2013, first blur concert 2013, watch blur mexico, watch blur 2013, blurmx,
Brilliant picture by fan @malfi  

El Plaza Condesa Mexico 2013 Setlist:

blurmx setlist, blur mexico setlist, el plaza blur setlist
  1.  Popscene
  2. There's No Other Way
  3. Girls & Boys
  4. Tracy Jacks
  5. Jubilee
  6. Beetlebum
  7. Out of Time 
  8. Trimm Trabb
  9. Caramel
  10. Coffee and TV
  11. Tender
  12. Country House
  13. Parklife
  14. Song 2 
  15. Advert
  16. End of a Century
  17. This is a Low
  18. Under the Westway
  19. For Tomorrow
  20. The Universal
Watch: Clips of songs played at the gig. 


This page on the Blur forums has links to the rest of the videos from the entire gig, available on Youtube. 

A must-see gallery of professional photos of the gig yesterday via the Blur Fans Facebook Page

Check out the gallery of Instagram pictures below (Note: it's long, image-heavy, keep scrolling). Our top four picks by @vaalx, @dadis and @gavilangavilan

blur el plaza condesa, blur mexico 2013 pictures, blur pictures 2013, blur mexico, blur tour 2013, first blur concert 2013, watch blur mexico, watch blur 2013, blurmx,



Read a review of the gig (non-English) HEREDon't forget to follow the twitter hashtag #BlurMX for more live tweets from the second Mexico show at the Vive Latino Festival. Live tweets can be found here


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

Stay tuned for more videos, audio and mp3s of the World Tour as it happens! 

Went to a Blur concert in 2013? Have a picture for us to feature? Write a review for us and get published. Contact us! 

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

SUBSCRIBE NOW!

If you missed old news, visit the NEWS ARCHIVE to read about past news!

Remember to subscribe to RSS and "LIKE" BlurBalls on Facebook.


March 1, 2013

Blur wins Best Reissue at NME Awards 2013

Although this year is full of blurry excitement for the 2013 Blur world tour and it's upcoming gigs, last year wasn't quite as extravagant. 2012 was a rather special and touching year for Blur, having headlined the London Olympics closing ceremony concert and playing in front of many for the landmark event. Coupled with the Olympics, Blur also released their new single 'Under the Westway' / 'The Puritan' together with a re-issue of the band's entire collection in a special box set to mark their 21st anniversary.


Now in 2013, Blur finally gets recognition for their subtle new releases last year. The band have received the award for 'Best Reissue' at the 2013 NME Awards held on February 27th for the 'Blur 21' boxset. Unfortunately they did not win the award for 'Best Live Band', which was given to The Rolling Stones.

In his acceptance speech, Graham Coxon said that "This was the box set that was in my cupboard for about twenty years but it was on cassette in a shoebox". Graham was joined onstage by Alex James. Scroll down for the video of Blur at the awards.



Check out this funny rundown of the awards night. And since the awards were voted for by fans online, a big congratulations to everyone who voted and to Blur!


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

SUBSCRIBE NOW!

If you missed old news, visit the NEWS ARCHIVE to read about past news!

Remember to subscribe to RSS and "LIKE" BlurBalls on Facebook.



ShareThis