Last July, Blur played the biggest shows in their history over two weekend nights at Wembley Stadium. For Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon, Alex James and Dave Rowntree, it was a signal moment in an objectively great band’s history. They weren’t just huge gigs, but emotional, powerful concerts, with Albarn in tears on stage at one point.
I was surprised, both while attending one of the concerts and watching the accompanying documentary film To the End, at the band’s awe, almost surprise, that they were playing Wembley. You are, you want to remind them, one of the best and most beloved bands in Britain. In Over the Rainbow, his memoir of Blur’s comeback year, Alex James is either naive or a little disingenuous when he ponders if they would be able to fill the national stadium: “Would anyone,” he wonders, “really be persuaded to go to downtown Brent on a Saturday night in summertime?”
