Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Blur confirm European festival dates despite rumours of split

 

Matilda Battersby
Monday 08 October 2012 12:39 EDT
Comments
Blur is the first band confirmed for the Primavera Festival 2013
Blur is the first band confirmed for the Primavera Festival 2013 (PA)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Blur have confirmed they will headline at the Primavera Sound festivals in Barcelona and Porto next year despite frontman Damon Albarn hinting in August that their Hyde Park gig would be their last.

They are the first band confirmed for the Spanish and Portugese festival which takes place in May and June of 2013.

Blur will also headline Rock Werchter in Belgium next July.

The nineties band released their debut album Leisure 21 years ago, but they are best known for breakout album Parklife and The Great Escape. Albarn also fronts Gorillaz and recently released the studio album Dr Dee for which he collaborated with the English National Opera.

The band reformed to give an unusually patriotic turn at the Olympics Closing Ceremony. This followed Blur's brief revival in 2009 when they played a series of festivals before going their separate ways.

Bassist Alex James told the BBC in July that the Olympics prompted their reformation. "We may never have done anything again if it hadn't have been for the trigger of being asked to do this show. We felt it was something we couldn't turn down."

But ahead of the performance in Hyde Park Albarn told The Sun: "Hyde Park is definitely our last gig in this country this year and probably for a long time, but that doesn't mean it's the end of Blur. If someone wanted us to do an album for a film I'd definitely be interested in something like that. So that's the offer."

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in