Brexit and The Ballad of Darren: inside Blur’s Colchester ‘warm-up’ show

Woo-hoo. Blur are back and the second summer of Britpop has officially begun. On Friday night, in the unlikely environs of an intimate arts centre in Colchester, Essex, one of the big beasts of Britain’s Nineties rock renaissance got their reunion underway.

An audience of just 200 lucky locals, hardcore fans, friends and associates packed into a converted church for a gig that the band themselves referred to as a “warm-up rehearsal” but was honestly as electrifying, intense, joyous and emotional as I have ever seen them, a glorious reminder of why Blur matter, and a tantalising appetiser for their two big Wembley Stadium shows in July.

On Thursday, Blur announced the upcoming release of a new album, intriguingly titled The Ballad of Darren. It will be the quartet’s first new album in eight years (following a brief reunion around eighth album, The Magic Whip, in 2015) but it has effectively been 20 years since their imperial pop reign stumbled to an end and the group all went their separate ways.

Quite unusual ways in many respects. Louche bassist Alex James became a gentleman farmer and cheesemaker. Sensible drummer Dave Rowntree qualified as a solicitor and became a Labour councillor. Quixotic guitarist Graham Coxon (who presaged their breakup by quitting during sessions for 2003 album Think Tank) has carved an eccentric solo path through folk and art rock.

Frontman Damon Albarn, however, has been a constant presence in British music, arguably enjoying even greater success with his animated ensemble Gorillaz and such multifarious projects as Africa Express, The Good, The Bad and the Queen and assorted solo offerings, musicals and operas. An intriguing question surrounding any Blur reunion is what Albarn might want from reviving his original combo, a band in which there has always been tensions between his songwriting leadership and their supposed democratic front.

It was not a question answered (or really even addressed) at a jocular but shambolic pre-show press conference in Colchester Castle, in which all members were careful to give each other respectful space to talk but nothing of interest was actually said. We did learn that the band think “Brexit has been a disaster”, and Albarn really does have a friend called Darren who inspired the album's title song, and that their riotous 1994 hit Parklife is set in London’s Hyde Park and not (as local legend has it) Colchester Castle Park. “Please just say it is,” pleaded a local reporter from the Essex Gazette. “Oh, all right, it is, absolutely,” agreed Albarn.

Colchester is the sleepy town where three members of Blur (Albarn, Coxon and Rowntree) attended school and formed teenage alliances and local bands, although Blur did not come into being until they encountered Alex James at Goldsmith’s College in London in 1988. “I don’t think we’ve actually ever played here together before,” admitted Albarn at the Colchester Arts Centre. “I’m sorry it took us so long.”

The gig itself articulated the drive for this reunion better than the band members could. Blur performed with an energy, vitality and unfettered joy that blew away notions of nostalgia and landed them firmly in the here and now. It was just the quartet, with longstanding keyboard player Mike Smith ripping through a superbly curated setlist that included two new songs (The Narcissist and St Charles Square), all their classic hits (apart from the crass Country House, long since Stalinistically removed from their back catalogue) and thrilling deep cuts (Pop Scene, Chemical World, Oily Water).

The smiles onstage as the small audience roared songs back at the band became infectious and seemed to up the intensity of Albarn in particular, who attacked the role of frontman with a vigour not often seen in his Gorillaz outings. Coxon’s guitar playing was spinetingling, cobwebs of notes holding everything together, whilst Rowntree and James pushed it all along with dynamism and skill.

Removed from the context of Blur’s legendary rivalry with Oasis, viewed now through the lens of Albarn’s dazzling post-Blur adventures, the guitar-fired fierceness and melodic emotion of this comeback show demonstrated that Blur don’t really belong within the generic clichés of Britpop. They are a uniquely brilliant art-rock band, blending post punk, grunge and slacker swagger with classic English songwriting, Sonic Youth crashing into the Kinks.

Next weekend, one of the other giants of Britpop will be back on the road, as Pulp begin their own reunion warm up shows in small venues before huge concerts in the summer. Meanwhile, at various spots around the country, you could catch such Britpop fellow travellers as Sleeper, Dodgy and Ash, whilst Oasis leader Noel Gallagher gears up for the release of a third solo album next month. These things come in cycles, and it does seem the turn of Britpop to enjoy a wave of nostalgic feelings.

Yet, honestly, it is impossible to think in terms of the warm glow of the past when confronted with a loud, lairy, weird, confrontational and inspirational band such as Blur blasting proudly warped art-rock songs out at full power. Rather than a pleasing reprise of an old story, on first contact this Blur reunion has the promise of something very special indeed. As the man said, Woo-hoo!

The Ballad of Darren will be released on July 21