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 Back to: Archive · 1998

 'Q' magazine preview of Blur at Glastonbury 1998

The first time Blur played Glastonbury, in 1992, they went on before Ned's Atomic Dustbin. How times change. They moved up to headline the Second Stage in 1994. This year, Blur take no prisoners, headlining the Pyramid Stage on Saturday night. (And "The Neds" are but a faded T-shirt at the back of a Bentley Rhythm Ace fan's wardrobe.)


"It's going to be like the first gig all over again," enthuses Damon Albarn, referring to the fact that a) Blur haven't played together since Christmas, b) they have a whole host of new material to debut, and c) Glastonbury gets you like that. There are plenty of festivals, but there is something unique about Glastonbury.


As for what Blur will actually be playing, Damon is sketchy. The baffled initial response to 1997's eponymous, jack-knife album turned to approbation after last year's British gigs, but they're approaching what will be their only UK gig of 1998 with an open mind: "It's an open book. I don't know what to expect. We cleared our minds last year. I would've thought the set would try and be true to that, but obviously I can't help myself; when I get on stage I want to entertain people."


He saw the author John Irving on TV last night, who, when asked, What is it like writing when you're so famous?, answered, "When you write, the piece of paper doesn't know that you're famous." Damon empathises: "Doing a gig like Glastonbury, even though we know we can do that kind of gig, it's like starting again."


"I just pray for good weather, and then the whole thing has its own soul and you can't help but get drawn into it. When it's wet, I think it's the worst place on earth."


Blur have a lot to live up to. Their 1992 Glasto debut, captured on the Starshaped video, involved Damon in his grey suit climbing the rigging (as was his precarious wont) and breaking his foot ("Did you see what happened?" he yelps on film, nursing his throbbing ankle beside a backstage van). Anyone who witnessed Blur's showstopper in '94 will concur with Damon that it was something special: "I remember the sun setting during This Is A Low - that was one of those moments. It was as perfect as I could imagine anything could get."


All seems calm and good within the Blur camp: Graham Coxon's "pretty happy", Dave Rowntree's "still airborne" and Alex James is halfway to earning his pilot's license. Damon doesn't plan on indulging in any of the conventional Glastonbury vices this year: "I'm not very good performing on drugs, so I have to be quite disciplined. I have a fantastic gig when I drink but for everybody else it's pretty crap."


Perhaps the drive up from his second home in Devon will keep him sensible. He finally passed his test during this year's five-month band holiday, having taken it five times in 14 years. Is this a new, grown-up Damon Albarn? After all, he turned 30 in March, and claims to have spent the intervening time "buying furniture and cooking". He's philosophical: "I was away for most of my twenties. I turned 30, so I thought I'd better learn to drive. You have to at some point, or you never enter the second stage of your life."


So no Phil Daniels and no Country House, but you never can tell with Blur. "I have these great pretensions about being really cool," Damon confesses. "Then I just lose it, and it's back to the pogoing."