Author: Crossfire

Cliffs Pavillions
Southend
21.06.09

Spending an afternoon walking along a beach with no sand, looking out to a sea with apparently no water doesn’t sound like the most thrilling of afternoons. However, after having passed a granny asleep in a car on the side of the road, discussed the use of beach huts and eaten a Wimpy [they have knives and forks!], Southend didn’t seem so bad.

Having seen Blur many times since the first time I caught them when I was 11, I knew that a great show was on the cards. The excitement bubbling away walking into the strange venue [was there a prom downstairs?] was huge despite the ridiculously bad support. Then the lights went down and the party really started.

Blur are a band that could easily have played an hour of tunes, thanked the crowd and left everyone happy. But that’s not how they are doing things now for this reformation tour. A two hour set followed, with hit after hit being played, everyone singing along, even to the ballads and not one song let the set down or created a lull.

From the opening golden oldie She’s So High right through to Think Tank’s Battery In Your Leg, all the hits were played. But the strength of the set came in the form of the album tracks that wouldn’t have been expected. The superb Trimm Trabb thrashed around into a wall of sound, Badhead‘s horns had everyone swaying and Advert made sure no-one was stationary, proving that though into their 40s, these Essex boys are the shining lights of their generation.

The smiles on the faces of the crowd were mirrored on stage and the genuine warmth and enjoyment felt by the band gave the set that extra little bit of fun. The greatest band ever? They just might be…

Abjekt.