I was both excited and apprehensive about going to the Blur gig, a similar feeling I had a couple of years ago at the Electric picnic when Pulp were playing. The last time I had seen Pulp, I was in my teens and I could relate to every word of Common People. However, in my 30s, I had become the representation in Misshapes that “want the things they won’t allow us.” I was older. I didn’t think I would be able to let my inhibitions go and bounce around the place and go nuts. However, as soon as a big “P” lit up on stage and the rest of the 20,000 people standing in the field began to relive their youth, Jarvis Cocker brought us back to that world again. I couldn’t sleep for days after the gig such was the buzz.

I began the evening with the same insecurities. For whatever reason, they never went away for this gig. Maybe it was the hour and a half queue for the bar that got everyone a bit miffed or maybe it was because the sound wasn’t great or maybe it was because the band didn’t seem to want to be there, but there was little to get excited about during the show. I’ve read a couple of reviews of the gig already and the highlight seemed to be that the threatened rain didn’t appear as they try to put some sort of positive spin on the concert. (Just as an aside, you can thank me for the lack of rain. I brought a big backpack full of wet weather gear.)

The set-list looked pretty good except for about 30 minutes in the middle when they finished “Out of Time” and played 4 very drab songs in a row. Things picked up a little during “Coffee and TV” but that was only because we were all trying hard to get into it and there was some guy dressed up as the milk carton from the video in the crowd. Then it was back to two slow songs and the mood was subdued. Damon didn’t really interact with the crowd. Even when Phil Daniels appeared for Parklife, there wasn’t a huge reaction. When they went off before the encore, there was little excitement in the crowd. In fact, loads of people just left. Maybe they already knew that “Song 2” wasn’t going to rescue the gig and it didn’t. Nobody really hung around at the end in the hope there would be a second encore and the chatter was disappointed as we walked back towards the Luas stop and back to our normalities. 

Everyone was there for some nostalgia. Lots of us have become the guy from Country House and we wanted to forget about that for the night. Sadly, there was no great escape.