Why are Blur so well loved in the UK. With the mist of time lifting the veil (yikes: this metaphor is going nowhere fast), 20 years after the fact, I'd boil em down to two great albums, and a fistful of songs. Though great live, have you ever heard their Hyde Park 2009 album? It isn't up to much. And they haven't the US in decades but they are so busy breaking up.
Well, the UK loves em and I certainly don't… and why do Blur love the Westway? A London elevated Highway? It sure ain't High 61.
They played what amounts to a two hour farewell at Hyde Park . Here is what… actually I've forgotten where I took this from. Probably the Guardian:
"The band launch into an incendiary Girls And Boys, and, for the next two hours, Hyde Park is theirs.On a night when London is consumed with jubilation at an unexpectedly magical two weeks, and with melancholy now that it's over, Blur have the songs to match all moods. The crowd bounces as one to the giddy pop rushes of Country House, Parklife and Song 2; roars its approval for the affectionate hymns to the capital that are London Loves, For Tomorrow and new song, Under the Westway; then sways, hugs and gets a bit weepy to the big-hearted, emotional wallops of Tender, This Is a Low and tonight's closer, The Universal."
Apparently, Albarn started crying soon after.
Look, Blur, until you get your lazy butts to nyc who cares? Gorillaz greatest moment was at MSG, why not bring the other band over. And not at fucking Roseland. Rent out Radio City for 5 nights. Fuck Hyde Park, that's how you say goodbye.