Gaels and boys

The first person to ever write about an unfocused art-school foursome by the name of Seymour was Irish music journalist Leo Finlay. Twenty years ago, in the summer of 1989, Finlay penned a glowing review of the band’s first ever London outing in Music Week.
“This unsigned and unheard of Colchester band played a blinder,” he enthused, although the group had been mistakenly billed as ‘Feymour’ thanks to the article being dictated over the phone.
“There could be a gap in the goofy market and Feymour have the charm to fill it,” he concluded. By the end of the year, they’d landed a deal with Food Records, and renamed themselves Blur. Finlay’s review marked the beginning of an enduring friendship between himself and the band, and they remained close until his tragic and untimely death in 1997.
While countless bands have tried on the ‘Irish crowds are the best’ false-flattery schtick over the years, Blur have always appeared to hold a genuine affection for our isle.
“I love Ireland and we all love playing there, it’s been ridiculously good to us over the years,” explained Damon Albarn in 1996. Ahead of their much-anticipated return at Oxegen, we take a look back at Blur’s extensive and eventful Irish gigography.

October 7, 1991 – McGonagle’s, Dublin
While The Stone Roses’ debut Irish gig in this predominantly metal-oriented South Anne Street venue culminated in them being bottled off stage and having to barricade themselves in their dressing-room, their significantly less-revered London counterparts enjoyed a warmer reception. Having practically disowned their ill-fated debut Leisure, Blur opened with as-yet unreleased single ‘Popscene’ and peppered the set with punky re-workings of early tracks ‘Come Together’ and ‘Day Upon Day’, although many in attendance merely recall witnessing a desperate-to-please Albarn climbing up the rigging and hanging from the ceiling.

June 5, 1993 – Tivoli, Dublin
Undoubtedly Blur’s least fondly remembered visit was for this Bank Holiday Weekend show in the Liberties. With grunge still in its prime, and the band peddling a record full of self-consciously British reference points, 1993 found Blur fighting a losing battle against the rampant, Yank-centric teen spirit brigade. In an ironic twist typical of the band’s dismal fortune at the time, the gig coincided with a one-day bus strike in the capital, the venue left practically empty as a result.

July 31, 1994 – Feile ‘94, Semple Stadium, Thurles
Handed a rather dubious 5.20pm slot preceding Rage Against The Machine, the Feile ’94 main stage didn’t appear to be an ideal setting for the Park-lifers and their “enormous sense of well-being”. A nonchalant rendition of watershed single ‘Girls & Boys’ however, sung by Damon whilst smoking a cigarette, incited mass crowd-surfing and provided one of the more unexpected highlights of the final Trip To Tipp. Suddenly the band could do no wrong, with their imperial phase well underway.

August 5, 1995 – Feile ‘95, Pairc Uí Caoimh, Cork
Riding high on an unprecedented wave of popularity, Damon Albarn told Hot Press in 1995 that his remaining ambition was “to be the biggest band in the world.”
“I think that REM are going to wind down and U2 will probably still churn stuff out but we stand a chance if we keep working hard,” he expanded, minutes before delivering a festival-stealing performance in the Saturday night headline slot. The closing brace of ‘Parklife’ and ‘This Is A Low’ (both viewable on YouTube) showed a band at their euphoria-inducing zenith. Albarn immediately declared it to be one of their greatest ever gigs.

June 22, 1996 – RDS, Dublin
Following on from an inaugural visit to The Point in late ‘95, the band chose Dublin as the venue for their only major summer gig of 1996. The band’s official biographer Stuart Maconie pinpoints the RDS as a key turning point in the Blur story, with the introduction of two new songs performed to “jaw dropping effect” in front of a capacity 32,000 crowd. The second of those, which had until then remained untitled, was christened ‘Song 2’ for the purpose of the gig.
“We’re gonna call it ‘Song 2’, ‘cos we haven’t got a name for it yet,” explained Albarn from the stage. The name clearly stuck, with the song going on to become Blur’s biggest worldwide hit.
Fittingly, when ‘Song 2’ was released as a single the following February, the band dedicated it to the memory of the aforementioned Leo Finlay – “a special friend and cool person.”
Its world premiere can be heard at www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcPhVNdn5eM.

November 28, 1997 & July 22, 1999 – Point Depot, Dublin
Two more sell-outs in support of the Blur and 13 albums respectively saw the band revitalised with a more daring, less-varnished songbook. In ‘Beetlebum’, ‘Song 2’ and ‘Tender’, Blur boasted a more durable set of live anthems than they had done during the Parklife-era. It was the band’s only indoor show of that summer, which again contributed to its special atmosphere.

December 7 to 9, 2003 – Olympia, Dublin
A Coxon-less Blur took up residency in the Olympia for three nights in support of that year’s Think Tank album.
“I think we’re gonna feel very comfortable here,” Damon declared on the first night, although stand-in guitarist Simon Tong appeared distinctly uncomfortable when playing anything other than the album’s collection of woozy lullabies. Albarn later conceded that the 2003 tour was indeed “missing something” and promised that Blur would never play live again without their original guitarist.