Blur played a concert in Jakarta, Indonesia on May 15th 2013 as part of their phenomenal world tour this year, where they headlined one of Indonesia's biggest music festivals- Big Sound Festival 2013. Images of Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon, Alex James and Dave Rowntree in Indonesia, at the gig, with fans, at the airport and playing pingpong backstage at the concert have surfaced.
Here's a first look at the Jakarta gig:
Blur in Indonesia - Photo gallery
Setlist: Blur at Big Sound Festival, Jakarta Indonesia 2013
Girls and Boys
Popscene
There's No Other Way
Badhead
Beetlebum
Out of Time
Caramel
Coffee & TV
Tender
Country House
Parklife
End of a Century
Death of a Party
This is a Low
Westway
For Tomorrow
The Universal
Song 2
Watch the concert (videos)
Blur interview for Kompas TV Indonesia - May 15th 2013
For more images of Big Sound Fest di Jakarta, visit this gallery.
Stay tuned for a review and more exclusive photographs of the show.
Damon Albarn has surprised Blur fans yet again. The frontman announced during Blur's first Hong Kong gig (May 6th 2013) that the band "will try to record a new record" in a week-long period during their stay in the vibrant city, and the news (captured in our exclusive video) had taken the world by storm.
The Blur forums have been given a revamp, Damon's been spotted abroad the Hong Kong MTR train, Graham Coxon was seen in the city's "Soho" Lan Kwai Fong, plus Dave's been tweeting meticulously about Hong Kong. Something's definitely up.
A few days ago, a Hong Kong music sharing page "Zenegeist" shared a photo of a new Blur demo in their official Facebook page. The photo has the text "Front of House" written in front, as well as some technical details of the brand new demo tape.
The original post message was in Chinese: 剛才在Avon 樓下碰到blur 的roadie Steve . Steve 透露樂隊已完成在港的錄音工作，並已錄下數首demo.
曲風仍然很blur 和帶有lofi 感覺。
Blur 將會在明天離港
The text can be translated into "We just bumped into Blur at Avon and met their roadie Steve. Steve revealed that the band had completed their recordings in Hong Kong, and produced a few new demo tracks. Blur's new demos still retain the original 'Blur' sound and has a very low-fi feel. Blur will leave Hong Kong tomorrow."
As with many news recently, this is speculation as to whether the information is legitimate or not. The picture seems real albeit the weight, and Damon Albarn indeed announced in front of thousands of live audiences in Hong Kong that they were going to try making new material last week. However, as some fans pointed out, the item in the picture weights 83kg - impossible for a small demo tape.
Graham Coxon also posted a picture of biscuits on what seems like studio equipment on Twitter, presumably from the studio they hired in Hong Kong after the announcement.
Biscuits on studio equipment - speculations on Blur's new recordings 2013
It could very well be that Blur will polish up these demo after their tour, or perhaps finally gather all their previous recordings from the old William Orbit sessions and release a new Blur album. Or perhaps the band will choose not to use the new tracks they recorded in Hong Kong this week. Or, will Damon Albarn change his mind again and decide to drop Blur after the world tour?
Amidst rumours of a new album, new Blur EP and new tour venues for the latter part of the year, anything can happen.
One thing's for sure - the recent Blur news are all pointing to a positive direction, and the band's prospects for releasing a new album are looking rather positive.
For the premier of the Virgin Media Shorts short film competition, Alex James, bassist and cheese-maker from Blur directed, scored, wrote and acted in his very own short film, all under the main motif of the contest- "Life is Short". For the film, Alex James was given a sponsored Nikon D5200 and asked to let his creative juices spill.
The Blur bassist's final film is a mere 2.20 minutes long, but manages to include an exclusive, new Alex James song titled "Superordinator". The brand new track is the background music to the short film and will definitely keep Blur fans hoping for new sounds satisfied.
Scene from Alex James's directing debut for the Virgin Media Shorts competition
Alex's film, titled "Slice of Life" was filmed in Los Angeles, USA, and features Alex James dancing to the beat, shaking his head, brushing his teeth and walking around the sunny Los Angeles streets.
The film highlights that colorful, high-resolution scenes can be created using a normal-priced DSLR camera. Additionally, the background track also sounds somewhat like an early Blur demo . It also has a surprise ending which you can find out by scrolling down and watching the full film.
David Alexander De Horne Rowntree, a.k.a Dave Rowntree (born on May 8th 1964, aged 49) from Blur, is an English musician and the drummer of Blur. He is also a registered solicitor and political activist, and has an interest in computer animation and graphic design. Though known as the "quiet one" in Blur, Dave regularly updates his Instagram, Twitter and Facebook stream, even posting pictures straight from the backstage of Blur concerts.
Blur are currently on a week-long visit to Hong Kong, where they played an energetic concert at the Asia World Expo arena.
BLUR FACT:Did you know- Dave Rowntree is the oldest member of Blur, being 3 years older than Blur frontman Damon Albarn and guitarist Graham Coxon (both born in 1969). He's 4 years older than bassist Alex James, who is a year younger than Damon and Graham.
Happy 49th Birthday Dave!
Check out the top Dave Rowntree quotes of all time HERE.
