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Back to: Archive · 1999 Bands who like B-sides From the Guardian, 8 September 1999. By Caroline Sullivan. Every indie band turned chart success considers itself misunderstood, forced to entertain concert audiences with the hits when its heart lies in the unlistenable stuff buried away as album tracks and B-sides. Blur feel it so keenly that, after criticism that their T in the Park show was weighted in favour of obscurities, they booked Camden's small Electric Ballroom for a one-off B-side special. What a Faustian trade-off. In return for seeing one of the country's biggest groups in club-like surroundings at a relatively knock-down £15, all you had to do was listen to two hours of music deemed too "challenging" to be A-sides. Anyone wishing to explore the subject in full can now buy (for £99) the Singles Box Set, all 124 daunting tracks of it. You need only wade through a little to appreciate that Damon Albarn relegated Alex's Song, Got Yer! and the oompah-based Ludwig to the flipside for good reason. And now they were going to indulge themselves on stage, and requests for Parklife would not be entertained. "I thought you knew all these songs," Dame teased the crowd. They shouted encouragingly, but could well have been crying: "Get the health and safety in to fix the ventilation!" It was sweltering enough for a drenched-looking Damon to stop the show frequently to splash Evian on the front rows, who fainted gratefully. As they sang in less-snooty days, All the people, so many people... Musically, the show belonged to guitarist Graham Coxon, the alleged unsung hero who is credited for their move toward art-rock. He enjoyed himself, rippling melodically through Polished Stone - the best by furlongs - doing the slacker strum-thing on the lethargic Down, wigging out to No Monsters In Me's abrupt tempo changes. By contrast, self-styled "Soho alcoholic moron" Alex James stood placidly, omnipresent cigarette always exactly the same length, and played what could have been the same bassline on every song. Damon, meanwhile, was a hive of activity as he chatted to wilting fans, played melodica on Supa Shoppa and sang with more zest than he has displayed in a good while. He looked very happy, finally unmanacled, if only for a night, from the supposed albatrosses of Girls & Boys and Song 2. For two hours Blur became an indie band again, embodying the cliché: "We just do what we do, and if anybody else likes it, it's a bonus". It would have been a bonus indeed if anyone had liked the entire show, which underscored the fact that Blur are a masterful singles band who are best off keeping their B-sides to themselves. |