VIDEO: Blur play new songs live online – watch HERE

Blur debuted two new songs tonight (July 2) in a live video stream performance via Twitter. Watch the broadcast again here via the embedded player at the bottom of this page…


( REVIEW: Blur – Under The Westway/The Puritan – listen )


The band performed ‘Under The Westway’ on a rooftop near the Westway, in a location near an MOT centre! The location turned out to be Damon’s 13 Studios, located above 337 Latimer Street. ‘The Puritan’ followed at 7.15, written for their forthcoming sold-out Hyde Park gig on August 12. 

The performance was broadcast live and attracted a huge number of visitors to this site, which was one of the many hosting the live stream. You can scroll down to hear ‘Under The Westway’ and ‘The Puritan’ live from the rooftop, as well as a video where bassist Alex James explains a bit more about the broadcast…


A Q and A session took place on the band’s Twitter page in between the two songs, with Damon, Graham, Alex and Dave answering fans questions. Both songs were then immediately available to download. A limited edition double A-side 7-inch single will be released by Parlophone on August 6.

Blur previously teased fans by posting times and the names of the tracks on their Twitter page. 


‘The Puritan’ post featured a picture of a neon lettering stating “Hey puritan what you gonna do about it” while the shot which accompanies the ‘Under The Westway’ tweet features a photo of the West London overpass emblazoned with the words: “Bring us the day they switch off the machines.”

Blur will embark on an intimate UK tour this August. The Britpop icons will play four shows, beginning at Margate’s Winter Gardens on August 1. They will then play two shows at Wolverhampton’s Civic Hall on August 5 and 6, before finishing off at Plymouth’s Pavilions on August 7. 


The shows will act as a warm-up for the band’s huge outdoor gig at London’s Hyde Park on August 12, which sees Blur topping a bill that also includes New Order and The Specials. The gig has been put on to coincide with the closing ceremony of the Olympic games. Blur are also scheduled to headline Sweden’s Way Out West festival in August.


Blur will release a career-spanning boxset on July 30. Titled ’21’, the collection includes the band’s seven studio albums as well as over five hours of previously unreleased material including 65 tracks, rarities, three DVDs, a collector’s edition book and special limited edition Seymour seven-inch vinyl.

You can watch the performance here:

Blur to release new single on July 2nd – PREVIEW

Blur are releasing at least one brand new track, possibly two. The not-so-secret new song ‘Under The Westway’ is finally about to be issued as a single, and even more brilliantly it looks like it will come backed with another brand new song. 


(UPDATE JULY 2012


LISTEN TO: Blur – Under The Westway


LISTEN TO: Blur – The Puritan )


A few days ago Blur’s management company Eleven Mgmt posted on their Twitter page: “There will be a lot of teasing going on today for Blur fans – there is something cookin!”


Then Blur’s Twitter page was updated with this tweet: “#Blur #ThePuritan @blurofficial / 7.15pm / 2nd July”. This was then followed by another tweet saying “Be here Monday 2nd July. 7:15pm BST”


‘The Puritan’ is the name of a new song Damon previewed at a solo performance of ‘Dr Dee’ a few days ago. You can hear this live version by scrolling down to the bottom of this page, as well as a live version of ‘Under The Westway’.


On Wednesday (June 20th) the Twitter page also announced: “#blur #underthewestway @blurofficial / 7.15pm (BST) / 2nd July”. This also included a link to the cover art for ‘Under The Westway’, which can be seen above.


The Blur Facebook page updated its cover photo to a photo featuring some lyrics from’The Puritan’ – “The Flash of the blade is one less of getting paid” was the words on the neon-lighted cover of the band’s page.

The excellent Blur fansite BlurBalls (http://www.blurballs.com/) speculated: “Coincidentally, the Zane Lowe BBC Radio show also begins at 7:15pm – could this song be debuted on national radio when it’s set for release? Zane Lowe has always had the first play on Blur and Damon Albarn’s new material (think Gorillaz, the 2008-2009 tracks and more) and this definitely could be the reason for the unusual, specific time.”

On ‘The Puritan’ the site says: “It definitely sounds like the old Blur, with traces of tunes from ‘Modern Life is Rubbish’ and the Britpop-era tracks.


Let the countdown begin!”

Blur – Under the Westway – new song

Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon unveiled a brand new Blur song during a short gig in London last night (February 19) – scroll down and click below to watch fan footage of the track.


Titled ‘Under The Westway’, the piano-led track brought the duo’s three-song set to a close at War Child’s pre-Brit Awards fundraiser at O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire.

The song is the first new material to be aired by the band since ‘Fool’s Day’, which was released as a limited edition vinyl and download as part of Record Store Day in 2010.


Introducing the song, Albarn revealed it had been “written up the road from here a few weeks ago” before joking about the gig’s headliner Ed Sheeran. He said:It’s got a lot of words – for me anyway – but not as many as Ed Sheeran has.
After being introduced by BBC Radio 1 DJ Edith Bowman, the pair kicked off with ‘He Thought Of Cars’, taken from Blur’s 1995 album ‘The Great Escape’, before playing ‘Strange News From Another Star’, which appeared on the Britpop band’s 1997 self-titled album.


Earlier in the evening, Dry The River and Malian musician Fatoumata Diawara played short sets, while Sheeran’ headline set featured guest spots from Wretch 32, Example and Labrinth. 


Blur are set to perform at the Brit Awards tomorrow night (21) where they’re due to pick up this year’s Outstanding Contribution To Music gong. It’ll be the first time all four of the band will have played together onstage since T In The Park in July 2009