GIG NUMBER ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-NINE
Who
The next day we headed back to the Excel Arena - where we'd previously watched Olympic Boxing - to see some Taekwondo. I'd become obsessed with checking for Olympic tickets dozens of times a day - albeit mainly at work - and my persistence had finally paid off after bagging Taekwondo tickets a few days before. Of course it was Athletics which I really wanted - especially as they'd been rude enough to move the Olympic flame from the centre of the stadium a few hours before I climbed the Orbit tower - and despite the many hours I spent checking for tickets my only regret was not trying even harder. A couple of times tickets for the opening ceremony at £150 came on sale, but Matt felt this was too expensive, although once he saw the show he realised what a bad call that had been! Although we had an afternoon session we headed there relatively early and I tried my best not to get sunburned, walking to the Thames barrier since we'd already explored Greenwich and crossed on the awesome Cable Car on the last visit. Unusually we'd be watching several weight categories and the entire proceedings would be completed over one day, with the preliminaries in the morning and the final in the evening. We'd be viewing the quarter and semi-finals if I recall, and one of my mates from work was going. A large part of the motivation of heading out so early was to engineer a meet-up and I was not impressed at all when he showed up a couple of minutes before we had to take our seats, then did a runner after the show and turned his phone off for a couple of hours. I was not happy, and maybe he'll read this and grasp just how rude such behaviour is, as we waited around for quite a while afterwards. Sportwise it was certainly more interesting than Boxing, although our seats were the absolute furthest away on the left, just like our Boxing tickets had been at the very, very back. Also there was a cool demonstration of the sport beforehand and we saw a guy from Gabon upsetting the odds and making his way to the final to win his country's only medal of the Games. Admittedly a silver, but I'm sure he was more than happy with that! After the sport we made our way to the pub by Blackfriars bridge where there was a lot of shouting and cheering going on inside. It turned out everyone was watching Mo Farah on his way to winning gold, but at this point we'd never even heard of the guy. One of the downsides of being in London doing activities for the Olympics and spending the time in between planning more stuff was that I barely got to see any actual sport. I'd previously loved this pub but the service was pitifully slow, although the food was good as ever, with our starter of nachos in tribute to Mexico's athletes being followed by a large steak.
I'd wanted a quick meal so we could make our way to the London Eye to watch the lightshow, where they claimed they'd be projecting highlights of the day's play onto the wheel, along with a pie chart driven by positive/negative vibes on Twitter. Sadly we missed the first showing so headed to the Namco amusement arcade, where I won the one and only game of air hockey and we had tremendous fun on the bumper cars. We then headed out to discover that the London Eye "lightshow" wasn't as it was billed to be, featuring no projections at all and just a handful of lights that may or may not have been supposed to represent this pie chart. It was absolutely pitiful, and it was fortunate that a far, far more impressive light show was taking place on the side of the Houses Of Parliament. In fact we'd seen half of the same show on our last trip, although the crowds had since increased many times over as word had got around. Although it was an annoyance that I again failed to get the shot of the Olympic rings fleetingly projected onto the building it was much more impressive than the pointlessly hyped London Eye show. The next morning we headed out to watch the men's marathon go past, first heading to Big Ben several hours early, but realising that the prime spot we bagged would be ruined as soon as the runners went past, as the photographers had sealed off the best area and even had got some stools set up ready. After learning to be suitably paranoid and hyper-observant after the disappointment of the Diamond Jubilee barge pageant we figured out that the photographers would completely ruin any chance we had of getting any shots ourselves, and also as the marathon loop was going the other way we'd have to wait quite a lot longer for them to go past. We therefore walked briskly to Blackfriars and got a reasonable spot one row back. The wait wasn't too long but I didn't recognise anybody - plus they were all still quite bunched together - and I was not at all happy that I chose to record a video but it somehow came out blurred. In fact some of the athletes were already lagging a bit behind despite being just 20 minutes into the race - I correctly predicted the time they'd pass us too! - with a van full of photographers at the front of the race and a sweeper van at the back. The thought of the poor guy at the rear being forced to keep pace by the sweeper van revving impatiently was rather amusing. We then headed to the Barbican for the James Bond exhibition, which was full of cool stuff but let down by the arbitrary no photography rule. The building lacked proper air conditioning too and by now my feet were really starting to hurt. I was annoyed that we missed a second chance to see the marathon pass nearby as we wasted time getting some shortbread at Matt's insistence, but seeing as there wasn't a British winner and tonight was about to prove that music beats sport every time I guess I can live with myself.
Despite my sore feet I then insisted we take a trip to Primrose Hill, as I'd heard it's lovely there and the view is so nice. I was surprised to learn that the lyric in fact was "windy", which just doesn't sound as good, but it wasn't especially windy and quite a few people were up there enjoying the searing heat, no doubt some of them were fellow obsessive Blur fans. The view was lovely though but I was disappointed that I couldn't find where the legendary Blur graffiti was in the park. As we were now struggling for time we didn't hang around too long and headed back for a change of clothes and some early tea. I decided to go with a ready meal style dinner, with a lovely cold prawn pasta accompanied by some ice cream. I wanted to buy some Ben And Jerry's but the rude guy in the shop tried to overcharge me, as the labelled price was in fact for a mini-sized tub which they conveniently didn't have in stock. The change of clothes proved extremely welcome as it had been a very muggy day indeed and we really needed a pit stop before spending hours and hours standing in an exposed park. I believe the gates had opened at midday but Bombay Motorcycle Club were scheduled to start at 4:30pm so there was absolutely no need to arrive any earlier. We headed back into town via the Central Line to Marble Arch - which apparently was exit only during the games - as we wanted to minimise the walking, to find it rather busy but still passable. We walked through a maze of corridors and were fortunate enough to emerge quite close to the entrance, a little later than hoped for but still in time for a good chunk of Bombay. We could never have anticipated that the longest queue and most Naziesque search operation imaginable was taking place which held everybody up, no doubt concentrated solely on confiscating any water bottles and food to maximise their profits. Why don't any bands have the guts to say "I won't play here unless you stop this shit" I wonder, or perhaps they simply don't pay enough attention to the stuff that goes on besides the show itself? After waiting forever and switching queues several times we finally got inside and I quickly purchased a bottle of water before we headed towards the stage. I spotted a rather cool two storey temporary bar sponsored by BT and covered with Olympics advertising and the entire site was sprinkled with sawdust.
Due to the appalling summer weather and endless run of concerts, Hyde Park had turned into a quagmire earlier in the year so the sawdust was definitely a good move, although it meant that the organisers had decided to give up completely on the grass. It must be quite a tall order to have so many consecutive nights of entertainment at Hyde Park due to the big screens and live shows operating throughout the games. The most exciting of these was Tom Jones live but we'd had other plans for that day, and interestingly they'd quite clearly advertised that this wasn't a free event, most likely because there weren't any last minute tickets to flog. This was in sharp contrast to the opening ceremony which we'd researched in great detail and decided that Hyde Park was the best place to watch it, seeing as there were "free screens showing all the games action." We were absolutely fucking furious to get there and to discover that these "free screens" cost £65, and found out afterwards that this was due to the opening ceremony concert, which featured a piss-poor line-up of Duran Duran, Stereophonics, Paolo Nutini and Snow Patrol. This was supposed to represent one band from each country of the United Kingdom, and it did cross my mind that the all-English line-up of the Blur show was a bit dubious from an Olympics perspective, but I'm sure they could have found better acts to present as the best of Britain! Thankfully on that day, after getting over the shock and disgust of the lying websites - which were all subtly rewritten the next day in 1984 style to make it clear it wasn't a free event - we headed to Hammersmith and found a wonderful square laid out with deckchairs showing the action for free. I will always have a soft spot for Hammersmith now as this saved our day beautifully. They filled up fairly quickly but it was a lovely gesture, and they even provided free hoodies when rain suddenly came out of nowhere. Although I'm sure that concert would have been a wretched musical experience it would work out brilliantly from a timing perspective as Duran Duran could have played their set during the endless flag parade of possibly made-up countries. The advertising for tonight stated that the concert was coordinated so we'd get to see the key moments of the closing ceremony so I was curious as to how this would work.
Due to all the time taken in getting inside we'd heard much of Bombay Motorcycle Club's set as a muffled din outside the arena - where a lot of people were sitting hoping to enjoy the music for free - and only got to see the very end close-up. I didn't know any songs and although we didn't get to hear much they didn't sound very good anyway. At the time the show was announced there was a bit of fuss about "special guests to be announced soon" and, although the main thing is that Bombay were somebody I'd heard of but hadn't seen before, I had hoped for much better. Presumably the first four and a half hours of the event were dedicated to live Olympics footage and I'd have been bloody annoyed by the delay in getting inside if I'd especially wanted to watch Bombay Motorcycle Club, but the only other observation on them I can make was that their stage had an unusual backdrop of human brains and the sound quality didn't seem too hot. We headed around the side and, as expected, discovered a secondary barrier which was incredibly well hidden and helped to keep the rest of the crowd back. We secured ourselves an acceptable spot a bit to the left and I discovered that my phone wasn't working, no doubt due to the close proximity of so many people in one place. The big screen showed some more Olympics footage, including the men's basketball final, and I was delighted to have secured a good position in time for New Order, a band who I'd have been devastated to miss. An unknown guy showed up to introduce the support bands, from a London radio station I believe, and New Order arrived onstage at around 5:45pm. This was the second time I'd seen them this year - and third in total if counting Bad Lieutenant as New Order - and apparently they were spending the summer touring the festival circuit. I was saying beforehand that they had the potential to upstage Blur if they got John Barnes to make a cameo appearance but this opportunity was tragically missed, and generally it's unusual that not a single athlete got onstage, but I guess that they were all at the closing ceremony itself. New Order arrived onstage as they'd done before with Elegia, which I didn't quite acknowledge as an actual "song" last time around but this time it certainly came across as one, albeit not a very good one. Bernard was actually wearing a New Order t-shirt and a video screen was utilised throughout, along with the two side screens you'd demand at a show of this size and status. The show proper started with Crystal, which featured some hands in the air participation but wasn't as good as last time, partly due to clunky sound quality for the entire set and also as the crowd weren't committed New Order fans.
The first time I whipped my camera out for a video was during the always-excellent Ceremony, this time trying very hard not to sing after ruining my one and only Stone Roses video with my lyrical commentary. I was also mindful to hold my camera carefully so as not to block the sound and not to hold it above my head because of the incredibly considerate person that I am. Quite a few people were bobbing about in vague awareness of the song, as this was one that even the non-New Order fans should know and has extra meaning considering there was to be a big ceremony tonight! It was wonderful and I took great pride in leading the sing-along, although there were a fair few other fans in there too. My camera stayed out for the highlight of their set which was a "cover" of Joy Division's Isolation and was absolutely fantastic and totally transformed from its original form into a dancier New Order style. This was especially welcome as I hadn't heard it the last time around, but sadly was the only surprise offering the band would deliver. Nevertheless most of the set was spot-on, with Bizarre Love Triangle going down very well and being drawn out quite long, which in fact they did with quite a few of their songs. As before, 586 was exceptional and True Faith provided the festival-style sing-along that I wanted to hear from New Order in an outdoor show. It's a great song and I'm amazed to read that both George Michael and The Boo Radleys have covered it, with George even including it in his live setlist. Blue Monday was greeted by a chorus of clapping which sadly petered out too quickly, but it was the first song of the night that every single person in Hyde Park knew. As had happened last time, Bernard sat out the intro and the band made even more of a go of Temptation, whereupon I shot my third video and took the lead in singing back the ending, even if I can't quite get the eye colour lyrics right! We gave a big "awww" for Bernard when he said he might have to make do with a bronze medal tonight but I was very doubtful that The Specials had the tunes to compete with this, and arguably even Blur don't have a song as majestic to close with as Love Will Tear Us Apart. "Joy Division forever" was flashed up on the video screen to some cheers along with the title phrase of the lyric, but it was a bit of a downer that they didn't play Transmission too, which they'd done on quite a few other dates of their tour. Although I was a bit bummed out when New Order were announced for this concert - after spending so much cash to get a ticket for their Birmingham date - I'm pleased to report that they were worth it in the end. Only just though, as Brum was a bloody expensive show!
After New Order left the stage we dashed very quickly towards the toilets at Matt's insistence to be on the safe side, although I'm sure I could have made it to the end of the set ok. For some reason the efficient - if disgusting - urinals had all been replaced by proper caravanesque cubicles which led to a queue of Biblical proportions. I was not impressed, but presumably this was for the benefit of the middle-aged clientele who wouldn't normally attend a live event in Hyde Park? I was so keen to get back in that I didn't even stop to try and find where the drinking water was, which I regretted later as I really had to ration myself to make it through the show. On the dash back into the crowd I saw Jon - my mate from Manchester - but barely had time to stop as I was very keen to secure my place for The Specials. I tried to text him but the phones weren't working or perhaps his was turned off and I may have seemed rude, but he rudely ignored some of my emails afterwards so I did regain my moral superiority in the end! Jon said he wasn't bothered about seeing The Specials but I doubted I'd ever watch them again and appreciate they have a handful of fabulous songs so wasn't prepared to miss them for anything. We did really well getting back in and secured practically the same spot as before, but had to step over quite a lot of people who really should have been standing up by now to make it in so far. Although it felt good at the time, from viewing my camera footage afterwards it was apparent that we were still reasonably far to the left. As far as I can gather The Specials only played a handful of dates in 2012 including a tour of Australia and some festival dates, but this was their only gig in England which was quite a treat! I'd purchased their greatest hits album specially for the event and had an affinity for them seeing as they came from the legendary city of Coventry, but ultimately I felt they only have a handful of great songs and I'd never been tempted to see them play previous high profile shows in either Wolverhampton or Coventry. Before they took to the stage the crowd was seemingly infiltrated by a busload of wankers chanting "rude boys", and we thought they'd spend the set bumping into us so were relieved when they pushed their way forwards into the moshpit. Although I was happy to be watching them I was very much here for Blur and wasn't going to waste all my energy on a support, especially considering I had so little water to last me the rest of the show. The Specials started their one hour set at 7:15pm, bursting onstage as their large banner was unfurled rather swiftly. This was nice although it meant there'd be no central video screen to enjoy. Also the sound quality seemed much sharper, easing my worries about how the musical element of the night would turn out.
My abiding memory of The Specials was that they somehow played loads of tunes that sounded good but didn't appear on their greatest hits, either indicating unwarranted self-indulgence or a poorly complied best of album. I'd expected they'd burst onstage with Gangsters but instead they started with two completely unknown songs that somehow drove much of the crowd insane, but I stayed put until they launched into Gangsters and the show started properly. I'm shocked to read that this, and A Message To You Rudy, two of their three best songs, are in fact cover versions, a fact that greatly sours my respect for this band, but there's no arguing that they sound fantastic live. The song I didn't know which made most impact was Monkey Man - again a cover version - and everybody went apeshit for it if you'll excuse the pun. Although it didn't feel like it at the time, in retrospect The Specials probably came closer to playing their greatest hits than New Order managed, but simply aren't as good a band. I shot another video during Rat Race and during the intro of Concrete Jungle I made a quip about the nuclear attack lyrics being the warning that the video screen had displayed beforehand about what to do during emergencies. Also it was memorable for the way we energetically clapped our hands and chanted "Specials!", which no doubt was a well drilled part of their crowd interaction. This "tribute" to the great city of Coventry was soon followed by the similarly excellent Friday Night, Saturday Morning, which I shot another video of as it features a memorable chorus and is a potent reminder that The Specials had several more top drawer tunes than I envisaged. The sun was out for much of their set and I was still wearing my hat, but I don't think it was any longer the kind of sun that could burn you so I eventually removed it. Bandwise the guys impressed greatly with their bouncy energy, but I must say their lead guitarist came across as a bit of a wanker. Also Stereotypes just isn't as good as Blur's song, but was quite amusing as it made me think of some of their fans, wanting to point at them and scream "HERE'S THE STEREOTYPE YOU'RE SINGING ABOUT. HE'S RIGHT HERE STANDING NEXT TO ME! HE DOES EXIST!" There's just something about some of their fans that makes you mutter "wanker" to yourself and you'd cross the street to avoid them, which is a shame as it detracted from my enjoyment, but it's probably a good sign that wankers can understand decent music too, and no doubt there are a silent majority of fans who are normal, decent people yet are sadly overshadowed.
After Man At C&A followed a barely recognisable intro which got everybody going and soon turned into A Message To You Rudy, which is arguably their best song. Interestingly Matt claimed not to like them beforehand but ended up enjoying them more than New Order, even though it was this song which he claimed not to like before seeing them live! By now they were nearing the end of their allotted time and I was surprised to hear Too Much Too Young, wondering how they'd have time to fit in Ghost Town without overrunning too much. For some reason they left the stage. There was much applause, which I didn't partake in as I was saving it for Ghost Town. But the fuckers didn't come back. What the hell?! If there was a way to destroy one hour of goodwill this was it, as ultimately I don't give a crap how good the rest of the set may be when a band fail to play their overwhelming biggest hit! Also the only way for them to learn to do it properly is to boo the fuckers offstage, but not wanting to get beaten up by the wanker contingent I contented myself with shaking my head, not clapping, and awarding New Order the silver medal for the evening. There was practically nothing that could stop Blur storming to gold! I'd been thinking that The Specials would be in a crowd-pleasing mood, seeing as it's the Olympics concert and all that, but no such luck, and it was extra-galling to think that Ghost Town was a fitting anthem for both the recession and East London where the Olympic Stadium is and would have summed up the mood of the evening perfectly. Unusually they do sometimes play it, and I was saddened to see a couple of idiotic kids being interrogated by an older Specials fan, claiming that they weren't too bothered about Blur and loved The Specials more. It was crazy to see how many of the people in the ridiculously expensive seats far away to the right of the stage spent much of the show on their feet and dancing, making me wonder how many were attending tonight because they loved The Specials. Not that they were bad, they just pissed it all away at the end and their fans put me off a bit, and it was also quite sad to hear a Specials fan dismissing New Order as shit, although you could make a case that New Order are the better singles band whereas The Specials make most sense live. Looking at the broader picture - but without going back and checking all my old reviews for comparison - I could still argue that this was the greatest supporting bill I'd ever seen, as both bands are sufficiently popular to headline stadiums or festivals in their own right, or at least could in their heyday. It also made the evening feel something of a bargain as £30 each to see New Order and The Specials wouldn't be an outrage, so one way of looking at it was that we were seeing Blur for free!
The video screen again descended - giving the roadies a good hour to set up the stage for Blur - and there were some enthusiastic cheers for some of the athletes as they appeared in the footage, especially Jessica Ennis. It was good to see that there were some sports fans here rather than just people who got tickets purely on the basis of it being a Blur gig... like me. We moved further into the crowd, securing a spot pretty close to being in the centre whereby we avoided much of the pushing and shoving that typically takes place. Of course the secondary barrier was also a blessing and I noted that as soon as everybody stood up we'd have even more space to take advantage of, but in the event I was so engrossed in the live footage I never noticed it happen! The closing ceremony coverage started in the studio at around 7:30pm - at which time we were watching The Specials - with the show starting properly at 9pm. Sue Barker and Gary Lineker were presenting and before the show begun I shot another video on my camera which demonstrated that it was already completely dark, as Reggie Yates was doing a small feature on East London. It was an interesting point to make that, as the show was a few weeks later in the year than I'm used to, the sun had set earlier and that it would be pitch black by the time Blur would take to the stage. The ceremony started - just as the last one had - with a countdown and the crowd enthusiastically joining in on the count of ten. The set was amazing, being a Union Jack motif and covered with representations of the landmarks of London. It was less enjoyable to see Emile Bloody Sande again, as she is hardly the best of Britain and had already played the opening ceremony. And just to rub it in a bit further she appeared twice in the show! It was much nicer when Timothy Spall appeared out of Big Ben dressed as Churchill, and lovely when everybody sung the National Anthem and cheered for the arrival of Prince Harry, who was representing The Queen. Madness were the only decent band we got to see and they got a sing-along going, and it was a "wow" moment when the saxophone player got hoisted into the air for his big solo. Interestingly enough the live feed was cut off just before a cover version of Parklife started up, and after watching the entire ceremony afterwards it was tragic to note that the commentators completely failed to mention the infinitely more significant event taking place down the road. It crossed my mind several times throughout the night that Hyde Park was the best place in the world to be at this moment, and when Blur came onstage at 9:15pm I doubt anybody wished they were anywhere else, although there was also a thought of "hey, I was enjoying that!"
The video screen was cut out suddenly then showed the Blur logo and opened up to reveal the stage, which looked very impressive and was in fact a giant Westway they'd be playing underneath, although it took a while for the lighting to settle down for us to figure that one out. Of course this meant no central video screen but arguably this was much more impressive, harking back to the brilliant Blur stage sets of 1995. They opened once again with Girls & Boys and got everybody moving, and London Loves definitely made much more sense in the capital city! I shot my first video during Tracy Jacks and took countless photos, although the fact it was dark and we were moderately far from the stage, not to mention all the flags, phones and hands being waved in front of us, meant many of them failed to turn out particularly well. Beetlebum was drawn out quite a bit more compared to Wolves, where it had been played quite concisely, and the backing singers remained on stage throughout but generally blended into the background. I shot another video during Coffee And TV and Graham deserved credit for wearing an awesome blue t-shirt celebrating James Cameron's The Abyss. Similarly the guest guitarist on Out Of Time had his solo dragged out a bit more, and although such flourishes make more sense at a massive show it's unusual that Blur hadn't wanted to rehearse them on the warm-up dates. In typical Hyde Park fashion there was a panning camera to the left side of the stage which gave us some fun trying to spot our place in the crowd, managing to pick it out based on the stuff being waved in the air. And perhaps this might be a good time to look at the two big downers, one real and the other imagined. Firstly there was a massive amount of whining about the sound quality, with supposedly a chorus of people screaming "turn it up" between songs. Whether this was exaggerated by the media I cannot say, but I can say that the sound quality was absolutely fucking fantastic throughout the set where we were, so any real Blur fans who'd bothered to secure a decent position had absolutely nothing to worry about. The other issue was the attitude of the crowd, as in Wolves you had a sense that most people were dedicated Blur fans who knew the vast bulk of the tunes played. This time around there clearly were more ignorant people who didn't know what was going on beyond the hits. For example, Young & Lovely was delivered beautifully and quite close to being acoustic but I felt like I was the only person in the place who recognised it.
Also I announced at the outset that Trimm Trabb was the worst song of the night and it may be true but this time around it made more sense than ever and the fans surprised me by getting into it. Damon even came into the crowd and they almost fooled everyone into thinking it was a classic! Sunday Sunday made more sense as it actually was Sunday but again I felt that many people here didn't own Modern Life Is Rubbish and had no idea what was going on. Meanwhile Country House wasn't quite as exciting as it had been last time but I still went mad and it was clear that most of the crowd had no problem with it at all. For the most part I stuck with my plan of being a bit more chilled out and trying to watch the show properly - which was a good call as visually this was much more exciting than Wolves - but I was taken aback by the reaction when Phil Daniels came onstage and they launched into Parklife. Everybody went absolutely crazy and needed no reminder that they were in the park that inspired it all. We came back down to earth with a bump thanks to Colin Zeal which, along with Popscene and Advert, demonstrated the full range of ignorance of the crowd. Considering they are amazing, exciting tunes I'd had hoped the momentum of the crowd would keep things going so it was sad to see them being treated like lesser cuts when they're not. Although I didn't realise it was him at the time, Harry Enfield randomly came onstage during Colin Zeal dressed as a dinner lady, and Damon bizarrely dedicated the song to all the dinner ladies of Britain. He also got us all to do the Mobot, which was the first time I'd ever seen it and Damon declared getting everyone to do that was the easiest thing all night. Watching more Olympics highlights afterwards and finally understanding why there was so much fuss about Mo Farah made me wish that I'd watched a lot more of the sporting coverage live! I shot another video during Popscene which was very nice as lights were flashed across the Westway set and Damon ventured back into the crowd again, this time not spotting me out and forcing me to mosh! It was around Advert when Damon made his big speech about the Olympics, saying how wonderful it had been to watch television without adverts, and how they'd been following it all despite being on tour. Hear, hear! Not quite sure what happened next as Blur briefly launched into The Puritan then abandoned it, perhaps in concession to their curfew, but since they swiftly launched into Song 2 there was no time to mope! Once again the crowd went insane and even started a slam pit next to us, which surprisingly stopped as soon as the song was over. It made the girl in front of us very angry indeed and she started to push back violently, but if you can't hack it you shouldn't be this far forwards, although the people were indeed being inconsiderate wankers.
This may be a good time to mention that - barring The Puritan not being played - the setlist was identical to Wolves. The fact they included Colin Zeal was a good indicator that they appreciated its reception in Wolves, as that was one of the few songs that had drifted in and out of their setlist. Clearly the vibe of a large, outdoor show is completely different to a sweaty venue and the massive stage set and supporting bill was not something we got to enjoy in Wolves. On the other hand, the superior crowd reaction and the general fact that Blur are great and worth seeing twice meant that it was more than worthwhile to see them in Wolves too, and I had no regrets on that front. One element that's a bit sad is that it's the big Hyde Park show that gets to be released on DVD and "immortalised" into history and the Wolves show just gets forgotten but I can understand why they don't release everything. Everybody was expecting Tender but we got a beautiful take on No Distance Left To Run instead, and by the time they followed this with Tender the band drew out the ending and I shot another video. It is interesting how a song can be so simple yet still have hidden depths that aren't appreciated for so many years but Tender wasn't quite as monumental as it had been in 2009 as everybody was expecting it and no-one was caught off guard by its scale. the main set once again finished with This Is A Low, which Matt pointed out was an unusual way to close proceedings, and he may have had a point. Since they were going to be coming back for more though I can let them off. Damon took to his piano again for Sing and it was interesting to note that a can of Coke was so visibly placed. This may have been a wry joke about product placement - and it was Coke who were "Olympic partners" - and I wonder if he'd had been allowed to have had a Pepsi onstage instead? The significance of Under The Westway was underlined as Damon took time out to explain that the song had been written exclusively for this moment, with him thinking what it would feel like on the final day of the Olympics, playing Hyde Park. In fact the lyrics scanned perfectly and this was very moving, making me think how amazing it would be to be at other actual moments that inspired Blur songs. It was again wonderful to hear Intermission and all arms were in the air for End Of A Century, whereas Damon managed to fluff the "Primrose Hill" line in For Tomorrow, which was a shame as I'd been looking forwards to that one!
The set was then drawn to a close as it should be with a moving take on The Universal, and when Damon just stopped at the end and stared at us, looking close to tears, it was deeply moving. This was a tragic reminder that this could perhaps be the last Blur gig ever. Under The Westway had proved beyond all doubt that Blur could make an amazing new album if they wanted to. Generally it probably hadn't been quite as good as last time but it had still been different and good enough to justify repeating history, especially considering both the occasion and the quality of the support. Strangely there'd even been an indication beforehand that the bands would be forced to play to backing tracks, but thankfully this didn't turn out to be true! It was now 11:15pm and the Blur logo was again displayed on the video screen as it was pushed back together so we could continue to watch the closing ceremony. It was sad to see that the vast bulk of the crowd quickly left, but I suppose it was a work day tomorrow, and it helped us as it made it much easier to get home afterwards. It was very interesting that the evening had had a double climax of both Blur and the closing ceremony, and although we'd been promised all the "key moments" on the TV screen we'd missed the bulk of the show, but I guess the start and the end are the most significant bits. There was so much mess on the floor that we were reluctant to sit down but I was determined to enjoy the ceremony footage, although the dispersal of the crowd indicated that there wasn't to be a big Hyde Park climax as I'd hoped for. When they switched back to the live stream we were greeted by the sight of Brian May playing a lengthy guitar solo, but sadly We Will Rock You was completely raped by getting Jessie J to be the guest vocalist. Do those guys have no shame or respect whatsoever?! Looking at the footage from the Olympic Stadium it was clear that all the stage stuff had been taken away, which was interesting as even watching the show in full didn't help me understand how they'd managed it! At this time I had no idea there'd be whining about the Hyde Park sound quality so was not exaggerating when I commented that the sound and picture quality of the live footage was absolutely perfect. By now though I was both hungry and thirsty and decided to grab some sausage and chips during the speech by Jacques Rogge, anticipating correctly that it would be a part of the show I wouldn't mind missing! Everybody who was queuing at the other stalls knew something I didn't though as it was one of the yuckiest sausages I'd ever tasted - largely as it was stone cold - and I was fortunate not to suffer any ill effects. Also there was no ketchup on offer but the chips were nice and the bottle of Sprite was greatly appreciated.
It was easy to secure a good position again as so many people had left but quite sad to watch the Olympic flag being handed over to Rio De Janeiro, although their segment which started with a comic appearance by a street cleaner and climaxed in a cameo from Pele was very exciting. I'd never even seen one second of live Olympics footage prior to 2012 though and - although I regretted missing the Beijing opening ceremony - due to the time difference it remains to be seen if I'll bother to watch it live in 2016. The saddest part though was to see the flame being extinguished, although the phoenix was a great idea, but it was uplifting to see that Take That had once again dumped the fat dancer from their ranks! There was much more excitement when the flame went out properly and a cheer as The Who took to the stage, a moment I also filmed. Interestingly there was absolutely no talk at this point about the Paralympics, and as far as everyone was concerned it was all 100% over and done with. The flame would in fact be re-used for the Paralympics but I had no interest whatsoever and was more than happy to spend the duration of the lesser games in Portugal. One downer was that I'd fully expected Blur to take a helicopter ride over to the ceremony to play, but perhaps they wanted to bow out in front of their own crowd, even though they were less appreciative than Wolverhampton! It would be nice if all reviews of the closing ceremony had given this concert the level of coverage it deserved - seeing as I'm going to the effort of discussing the ceremony when I could just shrug and say that Blur are better - but at least it got more attention than the fuck-awful opening ceremony concert, although Rio by Duran Duran would have made a fitting homage to the next Olympics. The show just petered out with no notable finale after the coverage finished a little earlier than expected at around 12:15. Since an extra-late curfew of 12:30 had been agreed - and any Londoner who was already in bed on the last night of the Olympics should be evicted from the city in shame - the TV footage still continued with the "post match analysis" but we were keen to make an exit to avoid any rush from the Olympic park and as the train service can be less reliable after midnight. We made the long walk to Victoria and enjoyed our easiest ever exit from a Hyde Park concert as 90% of the crowd had already left. It was incredibly quick to jump on the train too, but I suppose the transport network had to be ready for the influx from Stratford still to come.
The next day I'd hoped to sleep in but my body had different ideas, so I borrowed the laptop and made a couple of attempts to write up these notes. I was not at all impressed that the fucking thing decided to wipe my first two versions, and the day didn't get much better after wasting our time visiting the "Titian" exhibition at the National Gallery, which as it turned out featured just four mediocre paintings from the artist along with some pitifully bad modern art that bore no relation whatsoever. It was frustrating to think this terrible exhibition was being advertised as far afield as Wolverhampton train station, and the only consolation was that it had been free. We found a few more of the Wenlock mascot statues around Trafalgar Square and then headed to East London to visit a Blur exhibition, which was reasonably busy as you would expect it to be the day after their "last show". A lot of people were sitting around watching video footage and the exhibition included some pretty impressive photos and even a couple of their 1995 Brit Awards. This was the highlight of our day as they let us take photos and it was free to enter but we then headed to a pub and realised that we'd ran out of things to do. We decided to head to the Bavarian Beer hall where I drunk and ate heartily and enjoyed the range of beer on tap, although sadly the Lowenbrau wasn't as wonderful as I'd remembered it being in Manchester. Although there was more stuff to see and do we'd now lost our motivation and it was a helpful reminder that I'd been to London quite enough times over the years. I doubt anything could ever beat the Olympics so arguably there was no point coming back again. There always seems to be special stuff on though so I am sure that I will return soon though! Blurwise at the time of writing I'm still waiting for the official Hyde Park CD/DVD to come down in price and to relive the experience, and there's yet to be any word on what the band will do next. I made my way home with feet hurting but ears surprisingly not whistling and got to watch the closing ceremony in full, which was ok except for the bloody recorder cutting off the ending! Eric Idle put in an excellent performance and Liam Gallagher surprised me by playing a massive Oasis hit (Wonderwall), and it made me want to watch Ray Davies live too, although tonight had proved that it is Blur who are the masters of great English pop music, and I hope they choose to come back to treat us to some more.
Mark: 9.5/10
Blur
Support
The Specials
New Order
Bombay Motorcycle Club
Where
London Hyde Park
When
12th August 2012
Price
£61.00
Who with
Matt
Position
Towards the front
Comments
So here I was, six days after watching Blur repeat history in Wolverhampton, revisiting Hyde Park to watch a bit more history being made. It proved surprisingly easy to get tickets, which was unexpected considering last time we had two dates to choose from whereas this time there was just the one, and in fact they appeared to be on sale for a good hour or so. I only spotted this in passing though, as in fact Matt - London Matt that is - got the tickets for us. I was slightly annoyed that he chose e-tickets so I'm denied the most basic souvenir, but considering he moved house shortly before the show this was probably for the best to be on the safe side. In fact this show was the centrepiece of my third trip to London over the summer and on the first trip I lent Matt practically all my Blur CDs and he had them for a good couple of months, although it's quite tricky for a new fan as I find Blur are a band to slip inside your soul over several decades rather than just weeks. The time before was extremely busy as I had two trips to London to plan along with a holiday to Portugal, not to mention Blur's warm-up show in Wolverhampton. As a result it's only seven weeks later that I find myself writing up this review, although I'd made some fairly comprehensive notes a couple of days after the event. I headed down to London straight after work on the Friday and insisted we went straight out to the Kensington Olympia beer festival, although we'd only have a few hours inside. The admission price was falsely advertised - it cost more for non-CAMRA members - and it was busier than I'd like and in a cavernous train-stationesque room, but considering we usually just had an expensive meal on a first night it proved a lot of fun, although the pint of Brains stout was revolting and had to be tipped away! Thankfully there were Belgian, German and Czech beers also, and by the time we were kicked out I doubt I could have drunk any more anyway. Ridiculously the festival was closing on Saturday afternoon, missing out on countless thousands of pounds of custom from the busiest night of the week, but that's their problem, not ours.
Setlist (Bombay Motorcycle Club)
How Can You Swallow So Much Sleep
Your Eyes
Dust On The Ground
Always Like This
Lights Out, Words Gone
Ivy & Gold
Evening/Morning
Beg
What You Want
Shuffle
Setlist (New Order)
Elegia
Crystal
Ceremony
Isolation
Bizarre Love Triangle
586
The Perfect Kiss
True Faith
Blue Monday
Temptation
Love Will Tear Us Apart
n.b. This might be in the correct order. Maybe.
Setlist (The Specials)
Do The Dog
(Dawning Of A) New Era
Gangsters
It's Up To You
Monkey Man
Blank Expression
Doesn't Make It Alright
Rat Race
Stupid Marriage
Concrete Jungle
Friday Night, Saturday Morning
Do Nothing
Stereotypes
Man At C&A
A Message To You Rudy
Nite Klub
Little Bitch
Too Much Too Young
Setlist (Blur)
Girls & Boys
London Loves
Tracy Jacks
Jubilee
Beetlebum
Coffee And TV
Out Of Time
Young & Lovely
Trimm Trabb
Caramel
Sunday Sunday
Country House
Parklife
Colin Zeal
Popscene
Advert
Song 2
No Distance Left To Run
Tender
This Is A Low
Sing
Under The Westway
Intermission
End Of A Century
For Tomorrow
The Universal
