
Blur’s Damon Albarn says second Wembley show was their “best ever”
Reflecting on their two shows at Wembley Stadium earlier this month, Blur singer Damon Albarn says their second concert was their “best ever” performance.
The Britpop legends performed at the historic London venue on July 8th and 9th ahead of the release of their new album The Ballad Of Darren. “The Sunday night was the best ever concert,” Albarn said during a new interview with Apple Music’s Matt Wilkinson.
Meanwhile, bassist Alex James added: “I was doing live telly yesterday, and the person sitting next to me had been to the gig, and they said, ‘How was Wembley?’ And she just started absolutely gushing and then I nearly started crying.”
Albarn said the performance felt increasingly intimate as the evening progressed, noting: “That was the amazing thing. On Sundays, it just got smaller and smaller.”
Guitarist Graham Coxon also highlighted what makes Wembley Stadium special compared with other venues of a similar size: “The good thing about Wembley was it’s actually, the footprint of the place is quite small, so all the people, you can actually see the faces of the people. And we started playing in the daytime, which we don’t normally do, so again, you could actually see the effect the songs are having.”
As it stands, Blur’s new album The Ballad Of Darren is currently outselling the rest of the top ten albums in the UK combined, according to the Official Charts Company. The LP will officially become their seventh consecutive number one on July 28th.
Far Out’s official review of The Ballad of Darren reads: “It may not be the most heartwarming album of the year, but the fearlessness and unflinching emotion that fills up The Ballad of Darren is more than enough to place it proudly within the Blur canon.”
Watch Blur perform ‘The Narcissist’ for the BBC below.
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