Blur, Hyde Park

Only the biggest bands in the world get to play Hyde Park. T. Rex, Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, The Beach Boys, Patti Smith and Arcade Fire have all been headliners. This summer, Brit-pop legends Blur return to Hyde Park this June for the fourth time, three years after closing the London Olympics, as headliners of the British Summer Time festival. After a merry dance of will-they, won't they: the foursome announced a new album, The Magic Whip- their first in 16 years, to be released on April 27.
In the 90s, Blur amassed a devoted following of men and women who found Oasis too neanderthal and liked their music a little tenderer. The band’s back catalogue is unusually diverse for a band of their size; some of their biggest hits –'There’s No Other Way’, ‘Girls and Boys’ and ‘Song 2’ – are tongue-in-cheek pastiche. Lord only knows what ‘Parklife’ is, but you can be sure that 80,000 teary nostalgics will be chanting it come June 20.
Blur will be eager to stop June’s gig from becoming a hit parade. For the first time in over a decade, Londoners will have the chance to hear cuts from a new Blur album played live. The Magic Whip will be Blur’s first long release since 2003’s Think Tank, and the first with the band’s original line-up since 1999.
Whether or not these new tracks stand up to scrutiny remains to be seen, but it seems a fair bet that few people
will be going primarily to hear them: Londoners will flock in their thousands to see Blur, as they always have…