Blur have been talking about their experience at Coachella, which you may recall, didn’t go so well.
Back in April, the Britpop icons headlined the Californian festival. But their career-spanning set which usually goes down a storm in the UK (and other places as well, to be fair) left punters largely unmoved, much to Damon Albarn’s chagrin.
When Girls And Boys failed to illicit a singalong, he berated the audience, saying “you can do better than that”. When that didn’t work, he threw what most people would describe as ‘a strop’, telling the assembled crowd: “You’re never seeing us again, so you might as well fucking sing it. Know what I’m saying?”
Now Graham Coxon has talked about the experience in an interview with GQ. He told the magazine: “I like making albums. I’m perfectly happy on stage, but sometimes, like at Coachella or something, it’s taken you 14 hours to get there, and then you’re playing to people who don’t give a shit. They’re looking at you like ‘who’s this old git?’”
He continued: “I love an audience that are smiling their heads off and having a great time, because you’re doing it for them. And if I see audiences of people that are bored, like maybe Coachella, I just do it for myself.”
“I just enjoy what I’m doing. I smile at the grumpy faces a couple of times just to see if I can change their expression, then I just get on with what I wanna do. Pull faces at Dave. Laugh at Damon when he’s getting things wrong or whatever, just have a laugh. What else can you do? You’ve gone all that way, there’s no point in having a miserable time.”
Well, exactly. Life’s too short, isn’t it?
In other Blur news, regarding the ongoing issue of phones at gigs, Damon Albarn has come out against an outright ban. In an interview with BBC Breakfast, he explained his stance: “If you start banning things where does it end? I think you’ve just got to turn up and do your thing.”
"People won’t want to be on their phone if you’re engaging with them correctly.”
He was talking after Bob Dylan announced that his UK tour in November would be ‘phone-free’. On arrival, fans will be made to switch them off and place them in a pouch which would be locked by venue staff. He’s far from the first artist to try this – Jack White, Guns N’ Roses and the Lumineers have all gone down this route, arguing that it forces the audience to be more ‘present’ and thus makes for a better gig.
As for Blur, both Coxon and Albarn were speaking ahead of the documentary, Blur: To The End, which hits cinemas today (July 19). It follows the band’s reunion in 2023, which included a brand new album, The Ballad Of Darren, and culminated in two shows at Wembley in July last year.
