Blur Thrill Fans With Rarities At ‘The Ballad Of Darren’ Show
Blur thrilled fans at their show at Hammersmith Apollo, London, last night (25 July) by encoring with a short set of rarities, including the live debut of Theme From An Imaginary Film, originally released as a B-side on the Parklife single in August 1994.
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The surprise set followed the only live performance of new album The Ballad Of Darren in full. The show was live streamed and will be available to watch on demand from today (Wednesday 26 July) at 1pm BST to Friday 28 July, 1pm BST. Tickets for the on demand stream are available here.
The triumphant show also saw the band dust off Pyonyang from 2015’s The Magic Whip, Clover Over Dover from 1994’s Parklife (which had only ever been played at 2019’s Africa Express reunion), Mr Briggs (B-side of There’s No Other Way, 1991) and All Your Life, which was the B-side of the 1997 single Beetlebum.
Meanwhile, Blur look likely to score their seventh UK No 1 album with The Ballad of Darren currently outselling the rest of the Top 10 combined, according to the Official Charts Company. The Ballad of Darren would also mark frontman Damon Albarn’s second UK No 1 album of the year so far following the latest Gorillaz hit, Cracker Island.
Blur setlist – Eventim Apollo, London, 25 July 2023
The Ballad of Darren
The Ballad (Live debut)
St Charles Square
Barbaric
Russian Strings
The Everglades (For Leonard) (Live debut)
The Narcissist
Goodbye Albert (Live debut)
Far Away Island (Live debut)
Avalon (Live debut)
The Heights (Live debut)
Encore:
Pyongyang (Tour debut)
Clover Over Dover (Tour debut; first performance of the album version)
Mr Briggs (First time live since 2012)
All Your Life
Theme from an Imaginary Film (Live debut)
Encore 2:
The Universal