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 Back to: Archive · 2003
Blur at the Astoria

My review of Blur's Astoria gig on the 10th of May 2003
(adapted from Jen's review of the gig - my memory is rather bad!)

After support act the Bees had left the stage we were treated to a nice backing tape of heavy dub and a seemingly endless wait for Blur to appear. First to walk onstage was Alex, unshaven, nice black suit jacket, big smile, and a cigarette (so much for giving them up)! Next up was Dave, sans glasses, wearing jeans and a navy blue T-shirt with a big orange "BC" on it. Big waves and kisses from him. After that came Simon Tong, a keyboardist, extra percussionist, and three gospel backing singers. Damon emerged last, wearing a navy blue suit jacket with lighter blue pinstripes, light blue shirt and jeans. Another big grin.


After those at the front had received a welcome splash of bottled water from Damon the show began, starting with Ambulance. Many people had expressed doubts about this song, as well as Think Tank in general, but live it all came into place. Beautiful big sound, great bass, and Damon's voice near-perfect. At one point someone threw a plastic water bottle and it hit Damon smack on the head. He was fine but he looked right at the guy, shook his finger, and said "no more of that." After Ambulance, Damon greeted us all and said, "if you liked that one, this one's even better." Moroccan People's Revolutionary Bowls Club started and it was fantastic! Bright, groovy, with everyone into it.


After the song Damon bowed his head a bit and spoke about how rocky things were with Graham's absence from the band. He said that the door was always open, and that Graham would hopefully return, which got a huge cheer from the crowd. Damon then introduced the entire band, then Simon launched into Beetlebum. The whole crowd went mental and started jumping about. It wasn't anywhere near as good as with Graham, although it was technically fine, but what else could Simon do? If he'd injected his own style into the song the purists would have had a field day shooting him down. So he stuck to the guitar parts as straight as he could, but there was still something lacking.


Next up was a storming version of Girls & Boys, a song that just keeps getting better and better as the years go by, and always guaranteed to get the crowd pogoing wildly! That was followed by the sweet and understated Good Song, a tune whose quality is seemingly unappreciated by the Blur community at large, but which went down a treat with the 2,000-or-so souls crammed into the Astoria!


After Good Song, the black curtain behind Dave opened and a large screen was revealed, displaying clouds and sunsets. Then Badhead began - one of the best tracks from Parklife. Simon's guitar playing was fine, but... well... he's just NOT GRAHAM! Although it sounded great, Graham's departure from the band was still fresh in most minds and it did cast an emotional cloud over the event.


Gene By Gene was next, and Damon told us that he wrote and started recording it while jumping because his bare feet were burning on the (presumably Moroccan) sand. Right after this, a heckler near the front said something about them being crap. Damon looked right at him and replied, "Look, it's not about being good or bad, it's about the music." Enormous, deafening cheer from the crowd, a vindicated smile from Damon, and the show continued.


To the bemusement of nearly everyone, Blur's next song was Topman! Jen and I shook our heads, mouthing "Topman?", but Damon and Dave were really into it, and it DID sound fantastic! Then Blur played For Tomorrow. Damon introduced it as "a little song about love and Primrose Hill I wrote years ago - and if you look, the lyrics are still there."


Next up the upright bass was brought out to huge cheers, and Tender was played. It sounded lovely, although sorely lacking Graham's touch. Dave sang the "Oh my baby" parts in a much deeper voice than Graham ever did! The backing vocalists and the audience assisted Dave in this duty. Damon stepped away from the mic and urged us to sing louder, cupping his hands to his face and shouting, "C'mon, so Graham can know we're thinking about him."


Back to the new album for Out Of Time. This is quite possibly Blur's best ever single, with Damon's vocal definitely the best and purest he's ever recorded. It sounded just as good live, although Damon did fluff the solo somewhat! Next up was Brothers And Sisters, which sounded glorious. Damon had his jacket off by now, and the back of his shirt was totally covered in sweat. He had an "I am Jesus" moment at the end of this song, the yellow lights bathing him, but no one cared because the music was just too good.


Then came Crazy Beat, which everyone went bonkers over. Damon's jumping rate tripled, and Alex struck a few bass-god poses (legs apart, forming an inverted V). Damon did a stage dive during this song. When he climbed back onstage, Dave had his foot up on top of the drumkit. Damon exchanged a laugh with Dave. "Uh-oh.. Dave's just broken his drum kit," and Dave laughed again, confirming it with the hollow sound coming out the bass drum as he hit the pedal.


They rested for about one second, then broke into Song 2, which provoked some mad pogoing from the crowd! Damon jumped on top of Dave's bass drum during this song, and Dave drummed on Damon's feet, which made a soft thudding noise instead of the heavy snare drum!


Trimm Trabb came next, with Dave doing some absolutely breathtaking drumming in place of Graham's guitar brilliance. Some people had mentioned that Dave just added extra percussion, but it was so much more than that. Damon and Simon contributed a piercing wall of guitars that, coupled with Dave's octopus-like drumming, changed the entire feel of the song. Damon did the sustained scream. All in all an excellent rendition of a song that many thought simply wouldn't work without Graham.


Blur finished the main set with Battery In Your Leg, which was very moving. Damon stood at the edge of the stage, bathed in blue light, and his vocal was filled with emotion. The deceptively simple guitar line reverberated around the entire venue, and the beauty of the song was enough to move many people close to tears.


When they came back for the encore, Damon stepped up and said, "It's time to rock this place." Strangely, though, they started playing Caravan - not very rocking! Still, it's a great song and sounded fantastic live! Then... the clouds disappeared on the screen and turned into a vortex. Damon wobbled his arms like he was falling back. "The year is 1992," he said. "The song is Popscene!" Damon didn't stop jumping once. Everyone was dancing and jumping so hard that the floorboards were creaking. Comments from some people that Popscene sans Graham is awful are just rubbish - it's great!


On The Way To The Club was next, followed by We've Got A File On You. They played it twice in a row, then Damon asked, "one more time?" and, without waiting for the crowd's permission (hehe), they ran through it for a third time!


A short pause, then This Is A Low began. It was the one song I thought they would struggle with the most, given Graham's amazing solo. Up until said solo, however, I thought I was going to be proved wrong. The band played beautifully... Then the solo began... Thank goodness the rest of the show had been so good because that solo was just awful! No disrespect but it just didn't work at all.


Damon thanked us all for coming, said "hope to see you again very soon," and ran to catch up with Alex, who had already started to leave. They joined arms and played with each other's hair, then did a group hug with Dave as they left! What a beautiful, intimate show! I paid a bit extra than the asking price for the tickets, but it was completely worth it! Thank you, Blur, thank you!