Damon Albarn says Blur reunion has been a “beautiful success”
2023 has been a celebratory year for Blur as Damon Albarn and the rest of the band finally came back together for a new album and a string of performances. Now, with all their live dates completed and no new plans on the horizon, Albarn has described the reunion as a “beautiful success”.
After forming as kids in 1988, Blur first disbanded in 2003. Since getting back together in 2008, the group have moved from hiatus to hiatus as the members worked on solo and other projects, such as Albarn’s band Gorillaz or Graham Coxon’s role in The Waeve.
Thankfully, the stars finally aligned in 2023 for a big comeback. Announcing in late 2022 that they would be doing two huge shows at Wembley Stadium, Blur joined Pulp in heralding 2023’s Britpop revival. As the band’s first headline dates since 2015, fans naturally went crazy for the tickets.
Having now released their new album, The Ballad Of Darren, and completed the string of live dates and festival appearances, Albarn gave French publication Les Inrockuptibles his evaluation of the year. While he calls the comeback a “beautiful success”, it doesn’t sound like there is much hope for any more Blur activity.
“It is time to wrap up this campaign. It’s too much for me,” Albarn said. “It was the right thing to do and an immense honour to play these songs again, spend time with these guys, make an album, blah-blah-blah,” he adds.
“I’m not saying I won’t do it again, it was a beautiful success, but I’m not dwelling on the past,” Albarn tells the magazine, suggesting that this could be the end of Blur for a while again.
Even Albarn’s thoughts on Blur’s latest album seem somewhat frosty towards the release, brushing off the topic by saying simply, “I haven’t listened to it again.”
As for 2024, Albarn is committed to more left-field projects, such as an “opera which will be presented in Paris next year.” Then, once that is done, Gorillaz fans will be pleased that he is set to “go to India with Jamie [Hewlett] to start working on a new Gorillaz album.”
Providing his plan for the new year, Blur seems off the table as Albarn focuses on “new things,” adding “once you’ve tackled an opera, everything else seems easier.”
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