Blur played some shows (setlists, video, more dates) + Alex James & most of New Order form Bad Lieutenant

by Black Bubblegum

Blur @ Rough Trade East

What happens when you take a recently disassembled New Order, subtract one, and add in a partial Blur. Apparently, you get an Abel Ferrara film starring Harvey Keitel. Confused?

Frontman Bernard Sumner, drummer Stephen Morris and guitarist Phil Cunningham have joined with Blur’s Alex James for Bad Lieutenant‘s debut album, due in October. “I’m very proud of it, it’s a very good album,” Sumner told the BBC. “It’s pretty guitary too because we’ve got three guitarists in the band.” There may yet be more guitarists added – Sumner has promised that other Manchester musicians are to join the “collective” on tour. -[The Guardian]

Meanwhile Alex James’s other gig, Blur, is officially BACK, and they played a pair of reunion gigs in the UK over the past few days including a “friends and family show” in Essex and last night (6/15) at Rough Trade East:

Around 10:42, Graham Coxon’s Twitter page gave the game away, rallying the troops to Brixton Academy for eighteen minutes later. A mad dash over the river, through the market and into the unnervingly miniscule queue ensued and fifteen minutes later, wrists were endowed with shining green/ gold dust wristbands emblazoned with the band’s now iconic freeform font. All that was left to do was wait…. Until eventually, …phones and electronic inboxes alike were bombarded with conclusive info as to the wheres and then the whens; Rough Trade East, on stage at 7pm sharp, no arrivals before half six for fear of jeopardising the whole shebang.

…Rough Trade is transformed into the best garage gig never to entail smashed windscreens as involuntary feedback rasps through the murky humidity of an Amazonian rainforest. Invigorating, inspiring and utterly unmissable, the reunion never sounded so victorious. – [Virgin Blog]

Blur‘s Midlife: a Beginner’s Guide To Blur is out now in the UK and due on July 28th domestically. No word on if the band will play on US soil to promote the release.

The recent shows in the UK are only a handful of their upcoming festival-heavy schedule. Check that out, as well as setlists from both nights and video from last night, below…

Blur “She’s So High” @ Rough Trade East 6/15/09

Blur “Coffee & TV” @ Rough Trade East 6/15/09

Blur “Popscene” and “Song 2” @ Rough Trade East 6/15/09

Blur @ Rough Trade East, London.
Setlist for June 15th, 2009

She’s So High
Girls And Boys
Advert
For Tomorrow
End Of A Century
Beetlebum
Coffee And TV
Tender
Out Of Time
Popscene
Song 2
Parklife
This Is A Low

Blur @ East Anglian Railway Museum
Setlist for June 13th, 2009

She’s So High
Girls And Boys
Tracy Jacks
There’s No Other Way
Jubilee
Badhead
Beetlebum
Trimm Trabb
Coffee & TV
Tender
Country House
Charmless Man
Colin Zeal
Oily Water
Chemical World
Sunday Sunday
Parklife
End Of A Century
To The End
This Is A Low
Popscene
Advert
Song 2
Out Of Time
Battery In Your Leg
Essex Dogs
For Tomorrow
The Universal

BLUR – 2009 TOUR DATES
June 21 Southend Cliffs Pavilion
June 22 Goldsmiths College Student Union
June 24 Wolverhampton Civic Hall
June 25 Newcastle 02 Academy
June 26 Manchester MEN
June 28 Glastobury
July 2 Hyde Park
July 3 Hyde Park
July 5 Lyon
July 10 Dublin Oxegen Festival
July 12 T In The Park