Blur: Olympic Closing Ceremony and Is It Really Over For The Britpop Giants?

If you have hung out with me once in the past 3 years you probably know that I'm a bit of an anglophile sporting Paul Smith suits, rambling on about Damien Hirst or Oscar Wilde and listening to pretty much nothing else but English music. Of that music there is one band that will always hold a special place in my orange heart..that's right Blur! It's funny to me when I talk about Blur to an American the only song they recall is Song #2, a song written as a joke in a 30 minute jam while waiting for new speakers to be delivered to their studio. I specifically remember asking a "hip" DJ to play Blur once and getting a nasty, "Blur, Really? I don't have any Blur." retort before spinning the everlasting Justice jangle, D.A.N.C.E. My point is for god sakes Blur's fucking great man! The groups work outside of Song #2 is nothing less than brilliant. Blur just releasing a 21 disk box set full of goodies that I'm waiting to purchase on July 31st. Here they are about to play the Olympics Closing Ceremony and here is Blur rumored to never play another show after this. The concert is set August 12th around London, thousands of miles from where I will be quietly weeping and wishing I was at Hyde Park. Here is the lowdown fellow britpop champions:

The newly reformed rockers will be headlining a special gig to mark the closing ceremony, however they insist this is only to please their fans.
Blur have spoken out about their dislike of the Olympics' commercialism (PA)
Frontman Damon Albarn told The Sun that he found the emphasis on branding and advertising at this year's Games to be 'depressing'.
'I'm just anti the capitalism of it all. We're not doing the gig for the corporate side of the Olympics, we're doing it for the human beings,' he said.
'It feels like you're drowning in commercialism at the moment. It's depressing. But I am into the table tennis so I would like to get some tickets for that. It would be an inspiration to see it at that level,' the singer revealed.
His bandmate Dave Rowntree admitted he'd scored tickets to a show jumping event, however Grahan Coxon said he was worried he'd have to miss out on the diving competition, despite booking seats.
'I've got tickets for the diving but that's the day before we go to Margate for a gig. We have a massive rehearsal so I don't think I can go,' he grumbled.
Blur will be taking to the stage at London's Hyde Park on August 12th alongside The Specials and New Order.
And here are a few of my favorite Blur songs...Besides Song #2!!

Roll Out The Red Carpets, The Orange Event at HOB Foundation Room Dallas, August 31st

We are throwing a very swanky party in celebration of THE ORANGE finally starting tangible recording sessions with a Grammy winning producer Eric Delegard for our upcoming full length release. On August 31st you don't have to be a member of The House Of Blues Foundation Room to party with us! We're putting your name on the list and every friend of THE ORANGE is invited. We feel that it has taken us so long to actually make this record happen we owe this party to all of you who keep supporting and filling our shows year after year. So this is how it is going to work, There is no cover and you don't have to be a member to attend, however you will need a password to get on the elevator and meet the dress code requirement. This is a closed event so the password will be released on the Facebook invitation we send out next week. If you do not receive that, please Email me and I'll send you the password. For the event we will be playing a short acoustic set showcasing a few new songs and the addition of several awesome guest musicians. After the performance we will be partying and pumping British tunes all hand picked by THE ORANGE for your enjoyment. We are super excited about the party and even more excited about the new record. Thanks for hanging in so long with us and I'll see you at The Foundation Room August 31st.
Sorry youngsters 21+ only
Scott

reach_scotttucker@yahoo.com