Has anyone ever been more excited to headline Wembley Stadium than Damon Albarn? The Blur frontman anoints it “a temple for the agnostic”, pays tribute to Freddie Mercury at Live Aid, delights in the echo when he speaks, and turns breakneck instrumental Lot 105 into an ode to the place, coaching the crowd to chant “Wembley” in rhythm. “Obviously we’ve been waiting for this moment all our lives,” he says. That much is very clear.
Blur give good reunion. Their bridge-mending set at Glastonbury in 2009 was one of the most emotional nights in the festival’s history. Marking the closing of the London Olympics at Hyde Park in 2012, they felt rather like Britain’s national band. The thrill of headlining Wembley for two nights – a trophy that eluded them at their mid-90s peak – insures against diminishing returns. Albarn may be a famously restless musician, slaloming between Gorillaz, Africa Express and so on, but he is always visibly moved to be sharing a stage with Graham Coxon, Alex James and Dave Rowntree, whose four-cornered friendship is crucial to their appeal. Fundamentally unchanged in their 50s, they still look like the only 90s band who could have been an animated TV show.
