This is Part II of a two part
series from BlurBalls all about Blur’s 5-day visit to Mexico City, where they
played a gig in El Plaza Condesa (March 15th 2013) and then in the
huge Vive Latino Festival (March 16th 2013).
For this
part, Mirja GarcÃa writes about her
meeting with Blur and reviews the Vive Latino concert.
Author’s Foreword: Hello Blur
fans! This is my 5-day summary (Part I here) of my Blur experience in Mexico. First
and foremost, I will try to keep it fun and short because I don't want to bore
you with words. So, I thought the best idea was for my review of Blur at Mexico
to be divided into a "Blur Chronicle" by days. I hope you can enjoy
my review, experience with meeting Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon and the rest of
Blur, and some pictures I took with the band.
Day 4: Saturday, March 16th
2013
Review - Vive
Latino Festival
Today was the
day of the Vive Latino Festival 2013 where Blur are playing for the first time
in nearly 10 years. To be honest, I knew there was going to be so much standing
and lots of hours listening to different musicians perform. Before the first
few artists came out on the stage, one male fan pushed me and punched me right
in my mouth- he was very high, aggressive and totally not one of our Blur fans.
The security guard took him out so I wouldn’t get hit again, and I was
disappointed because I was right in front of Alex James’ spot.
Somehow I got
on the barrier again after the Tame Impala played. At one point, my back was
killing me. At the time Blur was almost coming out, I couldn't stand my back
pain anymore-thank heavens I was at the barrier so that I could have a bit rest
inside.
 |
| A fan "...gave Damon Albarn a bracelet which he kept and used for the Vive Latino concert" |
Blur’s performance
at the Vive Latino was heavenly. The band members all looked so happy, I was so
happy, and every single fan were too. It was the best time ever! I don’t have
much to say about the concert because I only spend the time outside for Blur
and not any other band. Of course, the feeling of watching Damon Albarn perform
was totally amazing, and there were also big, huge screens so we could see them
out there in the crowds.
 |
| Graham Coxon and Damon Albarn on stage - 2013 |
It was in my
opinion, a perfect night!
Day 5: Sunday, March 17th
2013
Even though
my body needed lot of rest after watching Blur at the Vive Latino Festival
2013, I woke up early to head right to Blur’s hotel in Mexico City. Oscar (one
of the biggest fans of Blur in Mexico, and the one who gave Damon a bracelet which he kept and used for the Vive
Latino!) and I met up in the hotel so that we could catch Blur and meet them
one more time.
The hotel lobby
was full of artists that appeared to perform in the Vive Latino Festival. I
have to admit I didn't pay that much attention to them. I was just focus on my beloved
British band Blur. After probably an hour of waiting later, I saw one of the band’s
choristers coming out of the lobby- next out was a tall, bald man who came out with
Blur’s other three choristers and various staff.
I approached
the tall, bald man, and he and I had the most lovely chat; he was very nice and
kind to us fans, and listened as I told him how long I have loved Blur for. I also
told him how much their job means to me, and how I’m grateful for all the
people involve in making Blur’s music possible. We were talking about warm up gig
in Mexico City’s El Plaza Condesa (see
Part I) on Friday night, and we mostly talked about how great ‘The
Universal’ was and how happy he felt by being here to witness the band. We took
a picture together.
After that, I
waited for bit more until I saw Rudy
Albarn, Damon's nephew. We shared a nice talk as well- Rudy was so nice and
he looked just like a mini version of Damon! I also took a picture with him
whilst he held my phone. Then I waited bit more for the band. I was amused by how
kind they were to me and talked with me about random things.
Finally, one of
the main members of Blur came out- Alex James. Alex was very posh, as always, and I approach him whist other fans also reached
out for him. I thought I was going to speak to him by myself; nonetheless I
went towards him and we talked- he was so lovely.
I took out my
Blur book and Alex started laughing
at it. He said: "It's been ages since I saw this!" and also told that
to one of the crewmembers beside him. He took a while to read through the book
and see the pictures with me. He was laughing at a few Blur pictures, and he
had a most lovely laugh. We kept on talking and he signed on my book and also on
my "GRAMON INSPIRES ME"
sign. Surprisingly, he also told me he saw it on Friday's El Plaza Condesa Warm-up show. We both laughed and I got to take
another picture with him.
Suddenly, I
saw Damon Albarn in front of Alex. I wanted to get a better picture with the
Blur front man, and luckily the fans stopped him from leaving outside. I got
closer and asked if I may take a photo with him- he was very nice and
immediately said "Of course". Damon dropped one of the CD's someone
gave him on his way. I stopped to reach for it, giving the album back to him. I
was so happy when he said “Thank you dear” to me.
Damon also took my Blur book
and leafed through a few pictures. He had a smile upon his face and then he
sign in a specific page. He then read my "GRAMON…" sign, smiled and
sign on it. “Did you see it on Friday’s
gig?" I asked. "Yeah, I
actually did a couple of times" was his reply, and we shared smiles. Afterwards,
I thanked him again for everything and for playing in our Mexico City.
Damon signed other
fans’ autographs and walked to the Blur van as they had to leave. He was about
to jump into it, but I needed my picture with the great man. "Damon, can I
take my picture with you please?" I shouted, and he was kind enough to
come out of the van and said: "Okay the last one". He walked to me
and looked me in the eyes (even though he had those big sunglasses on, we could
still see his eyes). Since I was short, I stood on tiptoes and he stooped down.
I hugged him by his neck and he grabbed me from my nape- it was a bit of hug
and someone took the pic with my phone. To give him a Mexican farewell, I kissed
him on the cheek and said "Thank you". "No problem dear" he
replied, and that was exactly happened for my picture. He was far too kind with
everyone, to be honest.
 |
| Top: Damon in the airport ; Bottom: Blur in Vive Latino 2013 |
We were still
hopeful that Blur would stay longer, so we waited for a few more hours. Bad
choice- the crew had started to leave and we already knew when they were
heading at the airport for the final journey. I chatted to Alex James’s bodyguard, who was also named Alex (like Smoggy with Damon). One of the crew members gave
Oscar the keys to Blur’s hotel room, but we didn’t know whether Blur were going
to come back at the end. It turned out they entered through a backdoor, which
was blocked by security.
A fan
suggested we go to the airport to say goodbye to Blur. We did just that - in
fact our taxi cab was right in front the band’s van, I know it sounds slightly
creepy, but it was not. We met them again, and there were more signings and
photos taken.
This time, Graham Coxon was slightly distant and reserved. He was
tired from the shows but after minutes, he suddenly changed moods and became
friendly and signed some more pictures. I showed him my hand-drawn sign and he
immediately said "I actually saw
this on Friday, it made me laugh". It was a great feeling to hear that
my sign made the band laugh. Blur left for the plane shortly afterwards. It was
a magic experience- my fellow Mexican Blur fans were there, sighing, thinking, and
smiling, and we left the airport after few minutes after we took our first official
photo as a real fan club – the Blur
Mexico Fan Club.
 |
| Blur Mexico Fan Club - at the airport |
These few days were the best days of my life by far, and it meant a lot to me that I had the chance to meet my favourite band Blur. Many thanks to Oscar and all your effort to organize this Blur fans meeting. It was one of the best musical experiences I ever had- the Blur members were really lovely and caring to all the fans who attended the shows. I'm glad that they came to Mexico and played a few shows, even though they left us with a sad, melancholy feeling. We look forward to seeing Blur play again soon.
Without a doubt, ‘The Universal’ was the soundtrack for my week with Blur. To me, "it really, really, really could happen".
Written by Mirja GarcÃa
Pictures from Mirja and Oscar MartÃnez Silva
March 2013
