Blur at Wembley – 09/07/23

It probably seems like everyone you know, who is of a certain age, went to see Blur at Wembley last week. Well, we did too. I’d had terrible FOMO when all my friends seem to be at Pulp the week before so when a chance to see Blur came up, I grabbed it. The way we got the tickets was a little ropey but it worked- that’s all you need to know.

I’ve loved Blur ever since I was 14. Kinda against my will to start with, cause they were indie and someone I didn’t like was into indie. But I was weirdly fascinated by them and by the time of the great Britpop battle of 1995, I was fully bought in and I’d chosen my side. Around that time I remember writing a story – a teen romance where two people bonded over their love for Blur. Two years later, I met an extremely sweaty boy in a Blur t-shirt and the rest is history. Look, he wore it again on Sunday:

It has been washed a few times since that very sweaty first meeting…

So, this was all a bit spontaneous. It involved some cobbled-together and not entirely foolproof childcare plans (school night sleepover, anyone?) but everything fell into place and we were on our way to Wembley.

It’s hard not to feel a little bit awed by the stadium up close. We’ve driven past a million times and seen it from the A406 but it is a bit magic when you’re Right There.

Talking of Right There, that’s exactly where we weren’t in comparison to the stage. We were miles up in the Gods and, although Paul Weller was on stage, it could easily have been Phil Weller of Portsmouth for all we knew.

He did eventually play some songs we knew -“Start” and “Peacock Suit” – which made me think it probably was him. Nonetheless, it felt like it might not be a classic gig experience being so far away. On the flip side though, we were already knackered after a busy weekend so two hours of standing might have been a challenge and also, we were just lucky to be there.

It was almost dinnertime by the time Blur were on and we did discuss nipping to the bar at a strategic moment to get some nachos or something. “But you never know when they’re going to play ‘Popscene'” I mused.

Turns out they played it pretty early on…but I’m getting ahead of myself. First, there was one of the Britpop-era instrumentals as walk-on music. I want to say “Intermission” but I’m not entirely sure. It did give me hope for a nostalgia-filled set ahead though, which was only slightly dampened by their first proper song, new single “St Charles Square”.  I mean, there’s a reason they’re gigging and they’re not exactly gonna ignore the new material but I was craving something a bit more familiar.

“There’s No Other Way”? That’ll do it. And THEN “Popscene”. Alright!

From then on, it was just joy after joy as they romped through the back catalogue. There were some less obvious picks, like “Villa Rosie” and “Trimm Trabb” alongside absolute crowdpleasers like “Tracey Jacks” and “Beetlebum” (poor Beetlebum….gone, but not forgotten). Damon went down to the front row early on and greeted the crowd. It seemed for a moment like they wouldn’t give him back, which reminded us both of Graham singing “Please don’t kill our singer” on the Showtime VHS. But eventually he did make it back to the stage, leaving fans swooning as he did. He might be a self-described old man but he’s still got that certain something….a “twinkle in the eye”, if you will.

Graham got his moment too, with the crowd adoring “Coffee and TV”. It would have been nice to have a few more Graham-led songs, like “You’re so Great” but we’ll take what we can. I know the relationship between him and Damon has been rocky at times but it seemed all sweetness and light that night – all sage tea and kisses. Those boys!

I wonder if Damon was musing on all that history too, as he broke down and sobbed at the end of “Under the Westway”. Or maybe it was just all a bit much. It’s not a song I connect with too much – it was out the year Eva was born, when I was mainly listening to ZingZillas – but it was a very touching moment. After some musical encouragement from Graham, he rallied enough to do a lively version of “End of a Century” and  – as a special treat for us schoolnighters – “Sunday Sunday”, complete with giant oven.

If I had one criticism, it would be that “Parklife” was just too darn fast. Special guest Phil Daniels (gosh, who saw that coming??) struggled a bit to keep up with all the words and there were a few bits missing. Also, I am a little bit terrified of Phil Daniels after his recent “Inside No 9” appearance. Luckily he left his welder’s mask at home or maybe in the workman’s tent he emerged from.

There was a bit of a theme with the Big Hits that they weren’t sung with as much care as some of the other tracks. Damon didn’t bother to sing half the words to the “Country House” chorus and later threw out “boys” and “girls” with seeming randomness. I didn’t overly mind though – those songs weren’t the ones we were dying to see. So while it’s fun to have a song that literally everyone in the stadium knew, it wasn’t as special as hearing something a bit more obscure, like “Oily Water” or “Advert”.

As the sun went down, the gorgeous ballads started rolling out. This is one of the things I love about Blur – they can go straight from a riotous “Song 2” to a heartswoon like “This is a Low”.  The phonelights coming out around the crowd while the sky turned pink was one of those perfect gig moments.

They were off! But not for long cause they still had some big hitters to cover. As well as the aforementioned “Girls and Boys”, there was “For Tomorrow” and then they brought out the London Community Gospel Choir for “Tender”. Weirdly, this was the song that stuck in everyone’s heads the most – even as we walked back to the tube afterwards, there were crowds singing “Oh my baby, oh my baaaaaby”.

My voice was seriously hoarse by this point but luckily I had a packet of corporate-sponsored jelly beans in my handbag, which restored ,me a little.

After “Tender”, the night was almost finished. I know a few people left during “The Narcissist”, in order to beat the rush but they missed out. The concluding song – “The Universal”- was enhanced with mirrorballs, which made Wembley seem truly magical for a moment. It really, really, really could happen. And we were, in fact, in the next century.

Getting home was not so magical. I’d love to say we had a clever way to get around the crowds but no, we were part of the crowd. I’d planned to get some food from the vendors on Wembley Way but they were all shut and we were too far in to go back once we realised.

So we just shuffled, stopped when told and shuffled again. The only mildly intelligent thing we did was to go northbound one stop on the Jubilee line when we did get on the tube.

Rather than fight our way onto the southbound platform, we went to Kingsbury and spent a rather dull 9 minutes there. But at least we got onto a southbound tube, even if it wasn’t the optimal line and even if we still had to fight to get off it when we got as far as Green Park.

But these are minor details and just the kind of irritants you deal with if you insist on going to big stadium gigs.It was worth it. Monday wasn’t pretty but it really was worth it. The love I felt in 1995 has not gone away and, judging by last weekend, a lot of other people share that love too. Thank you D, G, A and other D. See you soon <3