A 20 Year Wait - Blur in Hong Kong- Gig Review

The 20 Year Wait: Blur live in Hong Kong – a Review

It was a magical night. It was a revolutionary night. It was a night of many firsts, a night of which Blur fans in Hong Kong have been waiting and dreaming for – for over 20 years.

When Blur announced that they were playing in Hong Kong on May 6^th 2013, my unexpected reaction was something along the lines of: “Whaaat? Blur in Hong Kong?  [long pause]. Haven’t they played in Hong Kong before? [Nope]. Oh my gosh! [insert high-pitched yell here about seeing-my-favourite-band-for-the-first-time-ever-in-history]”. I’m sure many fans in Hong Kong reacted equally as strongly, for when I logged onto Facebook an hour later, the news had already erupted everywhere on local social media and discussion forums.

Blur were a pretty big deal in Hong Kong, especially since many people in the city lived through British colonial times and were influenced by British music. Britpop was popular here back in the 90s; British music is still hip and trendy, Damon Albarn is a household name because of his best-selling Gorillaz and for writing a song called ‘Hong Kong’. I hurried online and bought tickets – freestanding, frontal, mosh-pit tickets – I couldn’t wait to re-live a 90s Blur gig and experience the hype.

STORY: Damon Albarn announces plans to record new Blur album

The day came, and after queuing up for hours at the Asia World Expo the crowd was finally let in. I was amongst people of all ages, most wearing Blur t-shirts and talking excitedly about Damon Albarn. I’ve never seen this many Blur fans in Hong Kong together. There were more than I thought! We all rushed in and waited – hopefully Blur won’t be late right?

Wrong. The concert began 40 minutes late, but when finally Blur rushed on stage, they were forgiven. Blur started off with a bang and jumped into ‘Girls and Boys’, which made everyone dance and jump to the beat. ‘Popscene’, another high energy hit, was next. The crowd went wild, and just as the early-punk song ended, Blur started playing the intro to one of their first singles ever- ‘There’s No Other Way’. The song made the crowd go even wilder, and everyone head banged, shoved and sweated to the beat. Damon Albarn greeted the audience after the song ended and said a few words about playing in Hong Kong, which were met with cheers.

Next came a few slower, low-fi songs from the later Blur albums. ‘Badhead’ was the highlight of the show, since it was one of my top Blur songs of all time. Damon Albarn sang the lead vocals with perfection, spilling emotion and angst, and Graham Coxon’s guitar blasted out mellow sounds. Next came the psychedelic ‘Beetlebum’, which sounded better live than in the album since on stage, the guitar and bass were turned up to the max and the music blasted all across the room.

‘Out of Time’ and ‘Trimm Trabb’ were next – the latter was surprises as it isn’t always played live. However, Trimm Trabb was fantastic and haunting, although by this time the crowd calmed down and everyone was listening to the music rather than moving about. ‘Caramel’ was next – it wasn’t the best since it seemed to drag on live, with its million musical instruments, percussions and mix of sounds. I think it sounds better in the album or with headphones, rather than live. The sound quality was consistent throughout the gig, brining out Blur’s clear sounds.

Hit after hit followed, and slowly the audience got lost in a Blur-coma. The sounds of Blur filled the World Expo, and the night became a haze of ‘Coffee and TV’, ‘Tender’

, ‘Country House’, ‘Parklife’ (no Phil Daniels, thank goodness), ‘End of a Century’, ‘Death of a Party’ and ‘This is A Low’. 

Halfway through the show, Damon Albarn interrupted with a special announcement exclusively made in Hong Kong – they were “going to try to record another record” since the boys had some free time in Hong Kong next week. The crowd cheered with excitement – we were all glad to be let into Damon Albarn’s little secret – a new Blur record might possibly be recorded. 

STORY: Blur record new demo tape in Hong Kong 

The show ended with lots of woo hoos and wa hoos , with Blur playing their signature ‘Song 2’. By this stage, most of the audience including myself was exhausted from the Blur concert, and we all mustered enough energy for one last bop. After all, it wouldn’t be a complete Blur show without this era-defining tune. Dave was banging on the drums with fervor. ‘Song 2’ sounded better live, and I paused to marvel at how much fun I was having dancing to Graham Coxon’s electrifying lead guitars.

A memorable moment at the end was witnessing a group of fans singing the Oasis song ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’ as Blur left the stage. As if on cue, everyone gave them deathly stares. It was not funny.

I didn’t get much sleep after the Blur concert. I couldn’t, probably because deep down I knew I witnessed a historic moment in Blur’s musical history. Possibly also because I just spent the last 2.5 hours jumping up and down, getting squashed and shoving Blur fans around. Or maybe it was the adrenaline still rushing around in my body after the legendary gig.

So I got up, turned on the computer and looped Blur tunes on iTunes until the early hours of morning. It’s the only way of winding down after a Blur gig, and a great way to start off a brand new day.

Blur Setlist - Hong Kong May 6th 2013

‘Girls and Boys’

‘Popscene’

‘There’s No Other Way’

‘Badhead’

‘Beetlebum’

‘Out of Time’

‘Trimm Trabb’

‘Caramel’

‘Coffee and TV’

‘Tender’

‘Country House’

‘Parklife’

‘End of a Century’

‘Death of a Party’

‘This is A Low’

ENCORE:

‘Under the Westway’

‘For Tomorrow’

‘The Universal’

‘Song 2’

Went to a Blur concert in 2013? Have a picture for us to feature? Write a review for us and get published. Contact us! Blur Tour 2013 - Full dates and rundown  HERE

Rate this Review:

The Much-Anticipated Performance- Review: Blur live in Indonesia

The Much-Anticipated Performance: A Big Sound Festival 2013 Review

Written by Anisa Menur Maulani 

Exactly a year ago, my friend Cinita and I were sitting on the floor of my living room, watching the No Distance Left To Run DVD on a lazy Sunday. Look at all those happy faces, we said. They got to see the Blur gentlemen live, standing only a few meters away from them. When are we going to have the chance to do that?

Funnily enough, the answer came in February 2013, when entertainment and MICE giant Dyandra Entertinment and music promoter Sound Rhythm announced that Blur will headline the Big Sound Festival 2013 on May 15^th 2013 in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Days seem to be fleeting, as we got closer to the night when our dream comes true. We have applied for a leave at work, and find ourselves unable to concentrate at anything. Then it finally happened. Twitter exploded with the news that the gentlemen had arrived, and there were photos swarming around of Damon smoking at the airport, Graham and Dave talking to their fans, and Alex doing a door-stop interview with the press.

May 15th finally arrived and we were finally queuing in line in front of Lapangan D Senayan, where the concert will be held. Noted that Blur was not the only one performing at the event; their show was preceded by Van-She, Tegan and Sara, and The Temper Trap.

I could not speak much of Van-She’s performance, as I am not into their kind of music and thus was not interested in seeing them. But was Tegan and Sara and The Temper Trap were great; their songs were enjoyable, and the audiences seemed to be having a good time listening to them. These are the bands that are worthy of opening up an act as legendary as Blur, and the emotions that they built reached its peak just when the main show is about to begin.

My, how my hands shook and my stomach turned when they darkened the lights on stage and played Theme For Retro.

Then people began to scream “They were on the right side of the stage!”, and shadows moved onto the stage. Last thing we know, people were pushing themselves into front of the stage, and Girls and Boys was heard, closely followed by Popscene.

The atmosphere was crazy. Everyone was screaming; even guys in their twenties screamed like junior high school girls. We were dancing and jumping madly, and smartphones are all up in the air, because no one would want to miss anything.

PHOTOS: Blur at Big Sound Festival, Jakarta 2013

The situation calmed down a bit with Out of Time, only to then explode again as Damon jumped down from the stage during Country House. He ran up along the fence, greeting the maddening fans. He ended up perched on one corner as audiences grabbed his hands, trying to get a touch of the charismatic frontman (Someone was lucky enough to have his/her hat being taken by him). He also managed to shower us with water whenever he got close to the audience.

The encore started with their new single Under The Westway, which was my personal favourite that night. The encore was filled with mid-tempo songs like For Tomorrow and The Universal, and some people felt that show was much too short. Adding one or two more songs perhaps will be appropriate.

There were also complaints on the sound system, as there is a moment when Graham seemed to be struggling with his guitar. At some point during Parklife I was not able to hear any sound of the guitar; but thankfully it was only a minor glitch that did not hamper the whole show.

STORY: A First Look at Blur in Indonesia plus Videos And Setlist

The Blur gentlemen did not talk much. Damon greeted us a couple of times, but there were not many things that he said. However, I find that “Tonight, you inspired me” was the most touching thing he said during the night. It feels great if he was able to feel our excitement for having waited to see them for up to 20 years. 

The show ended with the much-anticipated Song 2, which I believe was the soundtrack of everyone who lived through the 1990s. We jumped, we head-banged, we scream, we cried. The guys left the stage but we knew that we would keep this moment in our heart for as long as we lived.

It is wonderful to finally being given the chance to see Blur performing in your home country, and I congratulate Chile for being the latest addition in their tour!

Anisa Menur Maulani 

(@animenur on Twitter)

Images by Fariz Adnan 

(@andstage on Flickr)

May 15^th 2013  

Went to a Blur concert in 2013? Have a picture for us to feature? Write a review for us and get published. Contact us! Blur Tour 2013 - Full dates and rundown  HERE