I had heard how terrible and awful Blur were at the Brits from various media outlets over the last 24 hours so I checked out the performance (medley of Girls and Boys, Song 2, Parklife) and it wasn't that bad...! Admittedly Parklife was probably the worst bit of it, but GAB and Song 2 arent very vocally songs so why is everyone like all of a sudden Damon's vocals were terrible!! The band sounded good, its just a different type of music! Damon sings the slower blur songs very well live Tender, Universal etc, its just the songs Blur chose to perform at the Brits were their more pop rocky well known ones and I thought they were okay!.

Performance is at the bottom of the article - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz...rformance.html

What do others think??

Honestly, the first 2 sounded okay but nothing special and the 3rd one Parklife was like 2 blokes who'd had a bit too much to drink getting up on stage and trying to sing. Pretty bad. Overall though, looked like they were abit rusty.

Like I said in the Brits discussion thread... rock bands thrive off the audience/crowd. It doesn't help when you have a bunch of corporates in front sat at a table drinking and talking amongst each other.

Damon was singing "wahoo" and trying to get the crowd going... didn't work and it's a shame the Brits changed it's format, before 2009 it had a standing allocation, they got rid of it few years ago.


This is how it should be done...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6w5zNcVbvs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzDoX3Dbpz8

I thought they were pretty terrible. And not just Damon Albarn, the band seemed a bit shaky too. Watching it back again, Girls & Boys wasn't that bad (although it wasn't that good either) but Song 2 and Parklife were a mess. It was a bit like watching drunken karaoke which was a shame because I really like Blur. Or at least I really like Damon Albarn. Not so keen on Alex James.

The crowd they were playing to is absolutely no excuse for a band whose members have been playing their instruments for well over 20 years. They were simply awful and clearly (in fact, scandalously given the occasion) under rehearsed. If they had been stellar most people would have forgiven the Adele business that went on before hand.

Oh and this is how you do a Lifetime Achievement Award performance well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bziX98FSBl0

This was the best bit of their set:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KjqagZja_Q
particuarly This is a Low. Tender wasnt really sounding as good as it once was but I still enjoyed it.
Liked Song2 but wasnt fussed about the other two, I dont get all this criticism of these songs not being tuneful and too shouty - the songs have always been pretty much like that. I didnt really care about that, i liked the energy and performance on stage - rather than robotic chorographed performances - I wanted to go along and jump about, also liked the nostalgic value of it all. All in all, i was a bit disappointment that they were up to the standard they once were, plus i would have personally gone for 3 different songs for the main show, but I dont think its as bad as everybodies making out - i think the criticism has been heightened after the Adele incident.

I'm not sure why they agreed to appear. They seemed out of place and i can't see what was in it for them.

Phil Daniels was the best Blur singer - nuff said

Whenever I've seen footage of Blur playing live Ive always thought how crap they are as a live act. Coxon is an incredibly talented guitarist in amongst the rest of the rubbish but I'm never tempted to pay to see them. As for Albarns vocals, you could get Danny Dyer up on stage and I doubt anyone would notice the difference.

i think that if someone who has no knowlege of blur, watched that performance for a lifetime award, theyd be thinking 'wtf'?...

piss poor performance for seasoned musicians.

I did see them at Glastonbury a couple of years ago, I was not a huge fan, but have to say it was a magnificent performance

Second only to Neil Young that year.

As much as I like Blur it wasn't great. When Phil and Damon were up there together is was like two drunken Dads getting up to sing karaoke together in Malia. Just wasn't there that night.

I gave up after the first minute and went to bed They sounded awful.

One question, why wasn't Damon given a wireless microphone?

Half the time it seemed to be getting tangled up!

Albarn has never been a great vocalist...

Tender and This is a Low were both amazing. Girls and Boys could've been better but I have no idea why they chose to do Parklife. I guess it's audience friendly.

I'm surprised they didn't do The Universal which is epic.

I also wouldn't take anything The Daily Mail has to say with any respect or credibility, especially Paul Connolly who is more use to reviewing X Factor hopefuls than talented bands.

Also their Hyde Park gig of 80,000 people sold out in 30 minutes this morning. Hardly a sign of poor reception!

Suspect it was more to do with them being the Olympics closing concert headline act, trying to make them recognisable to the world wide audience again, suspect most people across the globe won't have a clue who Blur are and after that performance won't care!

Perhaps the fact they had a huge show going on sale 3 days later.

Right, i didn't know that. I think they should've left it at Glastonbury.

I can't say I was impressed by the Brits performance but I saw Blur in '95 and honestly, I'd still regard it as a great concert probably because, as others have mentioned, of the atmosphere and energy the band creates.

Incidentally, I thought the best part of the Brits performance was the part that was relegated to ITV2 (Tender and This is a Low).

Which is a misleading headline. Blur are performing in Hyde Park as part of the BT London Live festival which coincides with the last day of the Olympics - NOT the closing ceremony itself.

The fact Paul Connolly can't even read a simple press statement and has twisted the facts to make it look worse than it is, pretty sums up the integrity and quality of journalism at the Daily Mail.

I like Blur but they were pretty poor at the Brits. Damon sounded quite bad and was out of time with the songs quite often, I think the band itself (playing the instruments) sounded alright though

They always sounded bloody awful live.I never saw the attraction of them.

They were terrible.
It looked to me as if they thought they were above rehearsing, didn't bother, tried winging it and failed horribly.
Get orf my rubbish awards show!