Blur Are Back!

[Si Hunt]

Blur are reforming to play a huge live show in London's Hyde Park next summer - nine years after their last concert as a four-piece band.

Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon, Alex James and Dave Rowntree will reunite for the concert on 3 July.

It will be the first time the band have played in public since performing at London's Royal Festival Hall in 2000, before Coxon left the group in 2002.

Tickets for the gig, which will cost ?45, go on sale at 0900 GMT on Friday.

"It just felt it was right again," Albarn told music weekly NME.

"It somehow feels like there's something for us to do again, we're not completely useless or pointless, we've got a reason to exist."

Coxon told the magazine the band were "making public what's been going on a little bit privately".

The announcement has fuelled speculation that the band will also play at next year's Glastonbury Festival, which falls a week before the Hyde Park gig.

Will Si be queing for tickets?

Si.

[Rob McCow]

Nah, I'll probably need to get them for him!

Knowing our luck we'll end up with 8 tickets for the event, seated at the far back.

[SiHart]

Yay! I'd love to see them again!

Si xx

[Pip Madeley]

I'd want to know who the support were before I put 45GBP in their coffers.

[Rob McCow]

The support band will be some piffling group of middle aged old farts, like Genesis or something. Or maybe it'll be someone better, like Shed Seven.

[Pip Madeley]

Such rudeness! And from a Genesis fan too!

I was hoping for Pulp to support them, like they did in 1994.

[Paul Monk]

No chance. Pulp would be worthy of a comeback gig of their own anyway.
I'd love to go but can't justify shelling out ?45

[Pip Madeley]

Same here, I liked them back in the day but 45 quid is a bit much - Oasis are charging the same and that's why I'm not going to see them either. I paid 75 for Genesis but that was worth every single penny (and I'm sure big Blur fans will feel the same).

[Si Hunt]

I pay a hundred to see Madge every year! But I may be clinically insane.

Si.

[SiHart]

I paid the price and we'll be going to Hyde Park. if it's anything like the Hyde Park shpows we've been to in the past, there should be a good line up on the day... they usually put on a packed line up that fills the afternoon and evening.

Si xx

[Paul Monk]

I'm trying to remember how much I paid to see Pulp in Finsbury park?

[Rob McCow]

The price is entirely what you'd expect to pay these days to see a 'big' band. In fact, 45 quid seems quite reasonable.

Sadly, we can't go back to the days of 1999 / 2000 when 25 quid to see Radiohead seemed like shocking extortion. Or seeing Pulp at Wembley Arena for around 15 quid.

Even at 110 quid, a 3-day festival works out at much better value. You can see around 20-30 bands, including some who would charge 80 quid for one of their own concerts.

[SiHart]

Their return certainly seems to have been popular:

Britpop pioneers Blur have added an extra concert date after tickets for their Hyde Park gig sold out in less than two hours. Skip related content
Related photos / videos Blur will play second show in London's Hyde ... Play video Blur will play second show in London's Hyde .

The band have reunited for the July 3 London show and the newly added July 2 concert.

The full line-up of Graham Coxon, Alex James, Dave Rowntree and Damon Albarn will be onstage together for the first time since their Royal Festival Hall performance in 2000.
Coxon left Blur six years ago and the band's last album, Think Tank, was released in 2003
In a joint interview, Albarn and Coxon explained that they had put their differences behind them.

"It just felt it was right again," said Albarn.

"It somehow feels like there's something for us to do again, we're not completely useless or pointless, we've got a reason to exist."

Coxon said the band were "making public what's been going on a little bit privately".

There have been reports of further dates including a possible appearance at next year's Glastonbury festival.
Albarn promised fans that there were more shows on the horizon.
"We'll do something in London because that seems sensible," Albarn said, "but we're also playing in other parts of the country, working up to there."

Si xx