Damon Albarn protests for Greenpeace Arrests

Actor Jude Law and musician Damon Albarn have joined around 800 people protesting outside the Russian Embassy in London over the arrest of 30 Greenpeace activists.

The pair, along with Paul Simonon from The Clash, have called the arrests a disgrace and described them as a personal blow as their friend Frank Hewetson is among those being held.

Relatives of the activists have also organised several protests across the country for the six Britons who are in custody, and a further 47 demonstrations are being held around the world.

(Source: Daily Mail)

Vampire Weekend Cover Blur's Song 2

Band Vampire Weekend covered Blur's hit single 'Song 2' in New York City during a gig in Barclay's Centre on Friday, September 20th 2013.



Damon Albarn had previously expressed interest in Vampire Weekend and it seems that the feeling is mutual. Did you know- Blur's 'Song 2' is one of the most covered songs by the band, and previous artists that performed their renditions include Weezer, Miley Cyrus, Avril Lavigne, Robbie Williams, Plain White Ts, Scooter and My Chemical Romance.




More details on the Vampire Weekend gig can be seen here. Vote below and let us know what you think of the cover.

What do you think of this cover?
	Great / Fantastic
	Good / Acceptable
	Neutral
	Poor / Below Average
	Awful
	Weezer's one is better

Festival Coverage: Blur live in the Berlin Festival 2013

Blur played an eventful show in the Berlin Festival in Germany on September 6th 2013. The gig, which featured other artists such as Bjork, Franz Ferdinand, Ellie Goulding, My Bloody Valentine and Pet Shop Boys, received generally positive reviews from fans and critics alike.

Blur closed the music festival by playing on the main stage, where their performance was deemed "extraordinary" and acknowledged as "one of the best the festival's ever seen".

It has been ten years since Blur last played a show in Germany. In an interview before the concert, bassist Alex James revealed that he had a past connection with the nation: "It’s great to be here, I love Germany, I did a student exchange to Hannover when I was 17".

When asked about what the band expects from the German fans, he remarked: "We are going to enjoy ourselves, and that usually rubs off on the crowd. We’ve had some great gigs in Berlin over the years and I think we’ll be going out for a few beers afterwards. We’re up for it and I think everyone else is, too.

User hendrik from the official Blur forums gives his review of the gig:

Berlin was great! It felt like a pretty small crowd (the festival in general, Blur still drew the most people for the night) which made for good spots and a very relaxed viewing. The setlist was a bit unsurprising but the band's as tight as ever and in good spirits too. Damon's German skills aren't too shabby either. For their first outing in the [Germany] in a decade, it was simply a very good show by a very good band.

Another Blur fan Liese also went to the Blur show and says:

I have seen the band playing live multiple times in 2009 and 2012, and I often think German crowds are rather boring, so I really considered not going to see Blur's first German gig in 10 years. I did not expect much more than the setlist I had seen and heard many other times; I could not have been more wrong- I was blown away! [Blur] were even tighter than last year, in high spirits, witty, and not to forget Damon's [not-so-bad] German!

Besides Damon speaking rather fluent German, more special events occurred during the gig night - Phil Daniels made a special appearance during the hit 'Parklife', and Damon Albarn also donned on framed glasses at one point during the gig. The Blur frontman looked much younger than his age, resembling his youthful self back in the heydays of the Britpop nineties.

Image Gallery - Blur at the Berlin Festival 2013

To see the full gallery of Blur in Berlin (45 images), visit our Facebook album here.

Blur at Berlin Festival - 9/6/13 Setlist:

Girls & Boys 
There's No Other Way 
Beetlebum 
Out of Time 
Trimm Trabb 
Caramel 
Coffee & TV 
Tender 
To the End 
Country House 
Parklife (ft. Phil Daniels) 
End of a Century 
This Is a Low 

Encore: 
Under the Westway 
For Tomorrow 
The Universal 
Song 2

The Clash Magazine's review of the Berlin Festival mentioned Blur, saying that Blur took to the stage with the "minimum of fuss: a denim-clad and floppy limbed Damon Albarn launches straight into the perfect opening triple-whammy of ‘Girls & Boys’, ‘There’s No Other Way’ and ‘Beetlebum’."

The article goes on to detail the gig and Damon Albarn's idiosyncratic actions: "Inevitably, this goes down rather well with the audience. Albarn provides the only precipitation of the day by continually launching water from the bottle he’s drinking from over the front row. Not that anyone there seems to mind too much. Things take a sombre turn when Albarn asks the crowds to think of Syria before launching into a particularly melancholic take on 2003 single ‘Out Of Time’, written due to Albarn’s disillusionment at UK participation in the Iraq War."

Watch the show - Videos of Blur live at the Berlin Festival 

Once again, fans captured the best moments from the Germany gig. Scroll down to watch Damon Albarn borrowing a fan's spectacles and putting them on while he sings Country House, Damon asking the crowd to remember the crisis in Syria and the band performing a spiced-up version of the intro of 'Song 2'.



(Damon asks the crowd to remember Syria)

(Damon borrows a fans' glasses)








Don't forget to check out a short review of the show here. For fans who are fluent in German, read a local review of the exciting night here.

View more pictures of the other acts in the Berlin Festival by clicking HERE.

Blur Tour 2013 - Full dates and rundown  HERE
Blur @ Coachella- video and image gallery HERE 

Blur confirmed for Mexico HERE

Blur Europe Tour News  HERE

Order the new Blur: Parklife (Live at Hyde Park CD / DVD) HERE

SUBSCRIBE NOW!

Never miss any Blur news again. If you missed old news, visit the NEWS ARCHIVE to read about past news!

Remember to subscribe to RSS and "LIKE" BlurBalls on Facebook.

Andrew Rens Salendu: Interview with a Blur artist

This month's featured article will be all about part-time Blur artist Andrew Rens Salendu from Indonesia who published a series of wonderfully stylish Blur posters online in Deviantart. The styles of his Blur artwork, custom Blur album sleeves and covers ranges from dark britpop grunge, pure vintage to brilliantly colorful and psychedelic. 

Describe yourself - who are you ?

I’m a forensic pathologist who listens to a lot of music and draws a lot. I have a lovely wife and a handsome baby boy.

What inspired you to make the Blur posters?

Blur are very visually stimulating. They seem to put great care in their packaging. That inspired me to try to imitate the thought process in designing posters.

We've Got a File On You-
A riff on countless pop art stuff

Poster Design- A Blur/Batman
animated series mash-up

How did you get into Blur in the first place ?

For Tomorrow was a minor radio hit, and I remember thinking it was a very catchy tune. But like most others, the Blur bug bit me when Parklife was released. The variety of music is breathtaking, the quality of the songs even more so.

Name your favourite song - why ?

I can’t decide between Blue Jeans and Sweet Song.

What other music do you have in your collection ?

Like all the people who were in high school in 1994-1996, I have a soft spot for Britpop, even the second-division bands like Menswear, Dodgy, Octopus, Subcircus and Bennett. My favorite bands, other than Blur, are The Beatles, R.E.M., 10,000 Maniacs, The Smiths, Ryan Adams and Fountains of Wayne.

A Spell for Money- A fictional record sleeve

Elton John's Cock -
Design for a CD Single 

What do you consider when designing anything ?

My approach can be divided into just two: do the opposite and do the appropriate. Blur has a distinct but varied visual identity, from the early days by Stylorouge and to the later days when they use Banksy and Graham’s artwork. Mixing and matching visual styles are always fun.

Who's your favorite member of Blur ?

For his cavalier attitude and extracurricular activities alone, it has to be Alex.

What's your favourite photo of the band ? Please link

This one - Just the sight of seeing them back together again!

Least favourite Blur song and why

It’s a three-way-tie between Mr Robinson’s Quango, Top Man and Crazy Beat. I don’t know why, but I find them incredibly annoying. The former even more so, because it interrupted the flow of two of my favorite Blur songs – The Universal and He Thought of Cars.

Any last words ?

Thank you so much for the opportunity! Love your site! 

Vintage styled Blur poster design

Blur poster with retro pixels 

Japanese-styled replica poster design

To see more of Andrew's Blur graphic designs, browse his gallery at andy2519.deviantart.com

Liked this BlurBalls feature ? Please comment (no fancy sign ups required) below, share it within your circles, tweet it, link it up!

Damon Albarn's Solo Album to feature Natasha Khan

At a recent August press interview, musician Natasha Khan who is known for her stage name Bat for Lashes said that she recorded a new song for Damon Albarn's solo LP.

In the article Khan describes how she recently recorded a track with Damon Albarn: “If I could go back and tell the 15-year-old me that I’d just sang with Damon for his new record, she’d probably wet her pants with excitement,” she said. “I had such a massive crush on him when I was younger.”

Bat For Lashes is the pseudonym of British songwriter and singer artist Natasha Khan. Half English and half Pakistani, Khan's music style is bold, colorful and loud. Her songs often feature thunderous marching band drums, desert guitar, ballet school piano, harpsichord, sub-bass snarls, hand-claps and naive beats, with the women fluidly switching and swapping their instruments between songs.

It's not a wonder why Damon picked Bat for Lashes as one of his collaborators. Her track on Damon Albarn's new solo album is bound to be interesting and dynamic, and will likely reflect her usual varied style of instrument choice and beat.

Damon himself is also fond of using myriad instruments and sound devices to create his music, often with experimental elements embedded in the songs.

There have been no further news on when Damon's new album will be released. For now, the Blur frontman is busy with band tours all across the world.

For those interested in more about Bat for Lashes, check out her official website here.

Blur rocks out in Hungary - Revisiting the Szeiget Festival 2013

Blur headlined the Sziget Festival in Budapest, Hungary three weeks ago on August 9th, playing a memorable greatest hits show where audience saw Damon Albarn performing an entire song standing inside the crowds. It was a memorable show where fans saw a very cheesy sign, a soaked Damon Albarn, Blur performing "Happy Birthday To You" for a special someone, Alex smoking a cigarette and Damon's underpants.

Blur fans are creative- a Cheesus Christ sign at the Hungary show

The show began at 9:30pm, when Damon Albarn emerged donned in his signiature denim jacket and jeans, pumping the air with his fist and saying "First time" referring to the fact that the band had not played in Hungary before.

The Britpop legends then launched straight into 'Girls & Boys'. Wearing shorts and a red neckerchief, Bassist Alex James, performed his baseline with a cigarette hanging from his mouth. "It's been a very hot day," exclaimed a sweaty Albarn whilst spraying water over the audience in the front rows.

Afterwards the band played 'There's No Other Way' and 'Beetlebum', the latter which Damon performed with an acoustic guitar as he pounded his feet on the drum podium.

Damon still seemed fixated on the day's hot temperature as winds whipped up around the festival site. "They say there's a storm coming," he shouted. "Cool air! Rain! Yeah!". A rendition of 'Out Of Time' followed his short speech, before the fan favourite 'Trimm Trabb' was sung, which Albarn sang through a megaphone.

Guitarist Graham Coxon took lead vocals for the hit 'Coffee And TV', during which Albarn wandered around the stage with his acoustic guitar before joining the band's backing singers for a dance. "You're really making this a pleasure for us," he said afterwards.

Blur then played 'Tender' and 'To The End', which was performed with a brass section. They then picked up the pace with 'Country House'. Stalking around in the pit and shaking hands as he sang, he leapt over the barrier into the crowd, who sprayed him with water.

The band played a fast-paced version of 'Parklife' and 'End Of A Century', which was followed by a solo rendition of 'Happy Birthday' to a member of the band's road crew when Damon returned to the stage after the break. The rest of the group then joined him to play 2012 single 'Under The Westway'.

'For Tomorrow' came next, after which Albarn scanned the array of flags in the crowd and said: "There's a lot of people from a lot of different countries out there. That's a very positive thing." He then spotted a sign asking him to take his pants off, and exposed some underpants in response.

Blur then finished their encore with 'The Universal' and 'Song 2'.

Photo Gallery - Highlights at the Blur Szeiget Festival 2013

Credits to virrb, chromecoveredclone, agatics.zvjezdana, chainstore, cncrd

View the Full Gallery (36 photos) by visiting our Facebook page. 

Setlist - Blur in Hungary 2013

   (Theme From Retro)
   Girls & Boys
   There's No Other Way
   Beetlebum
   Out Of Time
   Trimm Trabb
   Caramel
   Coffee & TV
   Tender
   To The End
   Country House
   Parklife
   End Of A Century
   This Is A Low

   Encore:
   Happy Birthday
   Under The Westway
   For Tomorrow (Visit To Primrose Hill
      Extended)
   The Universal
   Song 2

A new interview featuring Alex James and Graham Coxon was also made available after the show, where the pair talked about the Blur and Oasis rivalry, new music and their gigs so far. You can read it by clicking here.

Watch the Entire Show - Blur live in Hungary 2013

Finally, some good news for those of you who want to view the show - the entire set was recorded by a fan in very high quality video which you can watch by clicking here. 

Wacky Blur GIFs

A small collection of the funniest, wackiest Blur related gif animations. 

Blur fans are a creative bunch indeed. Know any more animations we can feature next time? Feel free to leave a comment and link below. 

Damon Albarn and Noel Gallagher collaboration 2013

A recent interview found on the Sziget Festival website quoted Blur's Alex James saying that Noel Gallagher and Damon Albarn are working on a "lot of stuff" together. Blur bassist Alex James said the two former enemies are "like best mates now" who had been "working together on a lot of stuff" 

Interesting snippets from the article include:

Blur/Oasis britpop rivalry: "Damon and Noel Gallagher are working together on a lot of stuff, so whatever was back then is not relevant anymore. But we have to add that young bands today are all very nice. We were totally intolerable."

On the early Blur recordings: "Last year we’ve released a collection in which all our previous songs got remastered and we’ve gathered an incredible amount of recordings from the past. We found a 9 minute recording from our very first jam session and if you listen to it you immediately know it can’t be any other band, we were Blur already back then. We got into a room, started to jam and it was this distinctive Blur sound from first moments. We are really happy that the chemistry between us works."

Change since the 1990s British music scene: "If we look back at it now, the 90s were the golden age of music. It's weird for us to look at it from the outside since we were a part of it. From the 60s and even from the mid 50s a lot of cool stuff happened in music."

Noel and Damon ended their long-standing rivalry which started between their bands Oasis and Blur in the 1990s earlier this year. They appeared on stage together for a Teenage Cancer Trust concert in London's Royal Albert Hall, performing an emotional six-minute version of "Tender". 

However, in another radio interview conducted by NME, Noel Gallagher outrightly denied that he is collaborating with Damon Albarn on new music. 

In response to Alex James's comment, Gallagher said: "I read that Alex James said that - [but] it's news to me!" 

Fun fact: The heated relationship between the Blur and Oasis in the height of the Britpop era fuelled fans to term the bands "Blurasis".

Best name for a Blur / Oasis collaboration track
	Coffee & TV & Cigarettes & Alchohol
	Don't look back in Anger
	Live Forever in a Country House
	I'm Out of Time
	Yuko & Hiro & Lyla
	Slide Tomorrow

Blur confirms Tokyo for 2014 - Live in Budokan

The organizers for one of Japan's biggest music arenas, the Nippon Budokan known as simply Budokan have confirmed that Blur are back on the list for a show in 2014. Blur fans nearby can rejoice, as the chance to see Blur in Tokyo is here again despite a cancelled gig earlier in 2013.

Blur will head over to the other side of the world and visit Tokyo following the cancelled Tokyo Rocks show scheduled for earlier this year. Official confirmation came from Blur's Facebook page and the gig's organizers in Japan.

The Budokan arena is where many "Live at the Budokan" albums were recorded, including those by musicians Bob Dylan, Blur and Ozzy Osborne. The stadium was originally used for judo competitions in the Olympics of 1964. The first rock group to perform in the stadium was The Beatles, who played a series of shows there in 1966.

The last time Blur played in Japan was ten years ago in 2003 at the Summer Sonic event and have since been waited upon by fans from all across the world who will be travelling to see them play live.

Date: Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Time: 7:00 pm - 11:00 pm

Location: Budokan, Tokyo, 2-3 Kitanomarukoen

Venue opens: 18:00

Ticket price: A seat ¥9,000,  S seat ¥10,500

Full show guide release date: October 5 (Sun) 10:00 am

Organizer: Creative Man

Blur also released a two-disc live album in 1996 titled "Live at the Budokan" which comprised of recordings from a live show in Japan during their The Great Escape Tour of 1995. Up until 2009, "Live at the Budokan" was the only official live Blur album. Listen to the whole album (including Damon speaking broken Japanese) for free below.



Blur have extended their 2013 tour to the early months of 2014. Will more venues in Asia follow? What will be next for Blur in 2014? All that is known for now is that Japan will be the second venue confirmed and will precede the recently announced Blur concert in Australia, set for January next year.

For more information: www.creativeman.co.jp/artist/2014/01blur/

Blur Tour 2013 - Full dates and rundown  HERE
Blur @ Coachella- video and image gallery HERE 

Blur confirmed for Mexico HERE

Blur Europe Tour News  HERE

Order the new Blur: Parklife (Live at Hyde Park CD / DVD) HERE

SUBSCRIBE NOW!

If you missed old news, visit the NEWS ARCHIVE to read about past news!

Remember to subscribe to RSS and "LIKE" BlurBalls on Facebook.