blur live at Malahide Castle in Dublin with support from Self Esteem. Photos by Leah Carroll
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Blur are coming back to Dublin. A few days after announcing a second show at Wembley in London next summer, the Britpop legends will play Malahide Castle on Saturday, June 24th 2023. Coming two weeks before their London shows, it marks the Damon Albarn-fronted band’s first Irish headliner show since 2015. Support comes from slowthai, Self Esteen and Jockstrap. Tickets go on sale this Friday, November 25th.
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As we posted about last week, Blur are amongst several new acts set to play this year’s Electric Picnic. Also confirmed to play the annual Co. Laois festival – set to take place from September 4-6 – are Interpol, FKA Twigs, Grace Jones, Mac DeMarco, Sam Smith, Despacio, Yasiin Bey (Mos Def), MK, Gavin James, Printer Clips, Julio Bashmore, Paul Kalkbrenner, The Riptide Movement, The 2 Bears, SOAK, Viet Cong, Fickle Friends, Kwamie Liv, Honne, Fat White Family, Dawes and Benjamin Clementine. Blur and Sam Smith join Florence and the Machine as the festival’s headliners. With many more acts to be announced,…
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There is something to be said about a frankly worrying number of classic records which is that many of them aren’t up to scratch. There are countless albums which on release were showered with some of the most golden platitudes ever forged. They captured a zeitgeist so perfectly that they must be regarded as true classics. But when you remove them from their time frame, many of them struggle to stand out. Pills ‘n’ Thrills and Bellyaches is a fun record, but it’s nothing more than that. Post Merriweather Pavilion is a collection of bleeps that we convinced ourselves was…
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Blur’s Modern Life Is Rubbish is very much an album made under duress. Having toured the US at their label’s insistence, the band found themselves over £60000 in debt with no commercial prospects to make it back. In order salvage some cash, the group released “Popscene”, a punk inspired, horn heavy stomper with hatefully playful lyrics about the music industry. It’s the sound of band taking all of the frustration and rage they been bottling up for years and letting it out in one vicious, beautiful burst. Naturally it tanked and barely dented the pop charts, peaking at number 32.…
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Examining the runt of a band’s musical litter is a never fun. Looking at this small, misshapen thing and comparing it to its stronger, better formed siblings, you almost develop a strange affection for it; a kind of pity. The perpetual adolescence nature of them, acne ridden and still trying to discover what they are and who they could be. Sometimes these little creatures contain more depth and warmth than their cooler, better developed counterparts. Other times they are the like visiting a social media ghost town and seeing all those images and ideas that you were so proud of…
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Friends, enemies and associates! On Thursday, July 3 we’ll be hosting a one-off and potentially very fun music quiz at Voodoo Belfast. There’ll be an array of lethal prizes on offer throughout the night, obligatory raffles, free giveaways and a couple of special appearances on the night.Please come down or Milky will be sad.Things kick off at 8pm, entry is £3 per person.
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‘Girls and Boys’, ‘Parklife’, ‘Songs 2’ – the vast majority of us could hum the choruses to each of these Blur singles in our sleep, night after night, until time itself consumes us and the final under-the-breath muttered “woohoo” for eternity. Which is not necessary a bad thing, of course. In their heyday, Alex James, Damon Albarn, Dave Rowntree and Graham Coxon were collectively responsible for concocting some of the most ridiculously infectious singles of a generation. Lingering beneath that exterior, however, was a considerably more experimental knack spearheaded by the wonderfully wayward playing of Coxon and Albarn’s own brand of…
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It was a time when the Blur Vs Oasis nonsense was reaching its peak; the Battle of Britpop as it was called. Bret ‘Hitman’ Hart was WWF (now WWE) Champion, and it would be just a number of years before Irish Rugby fans would become familiar with a man by the name of Brian O’Driscoll. Kerbdog – ‘Sally’ 1995 was a year when the grit of what was known as grunge had been replaced by the aforementioned Britpop bands of varying merit. While on these shores bands like Rollerskate Skinny, Whipping Boy, Kerbdog, and Watercress were doing their respective…
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The sun continues to bless Optimus Primavera Sound on the festival’s second day. Arriving on site in the late afternoon there’s ample time to have a cocktail from one of the stalls dotted around the Parque da Cicade before the day’s schedule begins, and with a nice strong caipirinha costing a mere €4 it would be rude not to. People-watching whilst sipping on a drink and strolling around is an oddly compelling pastime, but it’s best to conserve energy for the moment as today sees a further two stage areas opened up to the public – the ATP Stage and the…