Entertain Me!
blur live at the Brighton Centre, Brighton, England
April/May/June 2000
December 10, 1999
After waiting in the freezing rain for an hour and negotiating with a tout for a ticket, was finally let into Brighton Centre at 7:10 pm, headed for the souvenier booth, bought several T-shirts and a mug, went to the loo, then headed upstairs to standing area. People were already standing two persons deep, so situated myself in the center (for the first time) in front of damon, and found myself being the 3rd person from the front. There were about a dozen Japanese boys and girls around me, as usual, and we all patiently stood through the opening act's schtick. We were finally liberated at 8:50 pm when blur appeared onstage. They all look swell!
damon's hair has grown since I last saw him in a photo...good! He's wearing a grey Indiana T-shirt and baggy blue denim pants. Alex, a black T-shirt which says "Elite" (no doubt a gift from an Elite model...lol) and army green khaki trousers. Graham is wearing a blue T-shirt with a peace glove (what the heck is this?! At this point, I have no idea...cannot read my own writing) and an American flag design on it. Dave is wearing a blue polo shirt (that's all I could see...).
The first song, "I Know" begins. Nice! All members of the
audience are getting into it. Hey! First time in the center, now weasled into 2nd person from the front space and feeling groovy! Hey! This is not bad at all! Nothing at all like I assumed! Next is "She's so High" and mad pogo-ing begins! "There's No Other Way" follows and the audience goes bezerk! This is now getting truly scary...I'm getting smashed and smothered from the left, right, and from behind. Fear for my life at this point (yes, I am the biggest chicken to ever walk this face of earth) so try to move leftward, towards Graham's side, but all the people around me are pushing every which way and I am seriously panicking at this point. "Hey, hey, hey!" I shout as I brace myself and maneuver deftly towards the left hand side. By the time the next song "Bang" begins, I am safely ensconced in front of Graham, 2nd person from the front. Whew! The civilised zone...
damon makes a comment about how this is a horrible song and the audience positively disagrees and makes noises, to which damon adds, "everyone's contribution is good, exceptmine." Not the case at all, d! He starts fiddling with a yellow toy trumpet and asks, "does anyone know how to play this?" with a mischievous smile on his face.
Next is "Popscene." damon's starts jumping around then realises he had better take off his gold necklace (yes, the Che Guevara one, kids...), puts it down in front of Dave's drum kit for safekeeping and jumps offstage and reaches out into the audience. The security crew is hoisting him way up. damon gestures for them to let him reach further out into the audience. It's as if he craves contact with the audience (is it because so high up onstage, he feels disconnected in a way from the ones that love him so much?)
For the next song, he makes a "quiet down" sort of gesture by lowering his arms and says, "this is a different mood now," and "For Tomorrow" begins. Next is "Chemical World" and damon does a hop after singing the second chorus, Graham says "quack!" once after the song ends. It will be the first of several "quacks" that will be uttered by Graham this evening.
damon then asks, "who wants water?" to which the crowd roars. damon then tells us that "they don't give us food, they worry about me spraying with it." Well, thanks for that consideration.
For "Sunday Sunday" we are treated to a video showing a man dropping trou and defecating on a rug in the middle of a living room, the video is then rewound rapidly to show the feces going back into the place from which it hailed. What the?! We, the audience, are utterly put off by this image, but decide to show our disgust by smiling?! What a sick bunch we are! The instrumental portion of the song is played super fast with damon bringing out his melodica and playing it a mile a minute. Graham raises his eyebrows several times while playing this song as he blows out his cheeks as if to signal that he is not to happy playing this song...
Pogo time has arrived in earnest with the familiar intro to "Girls and Boys." The instrumental portion of this song is somewhat arranged. After the song ends, damon says "aahhh...ohhh...whew...better take it down now...I wanna get close to you, I wanna feel you..." Aack! "To the End" begins and lights are shone on the large mirrorball above the stage. Beautiful! The video from "Showtime" is playing on the two huge screens stage left and right. How satisfying it is to listen to this song now for some reason...such a sense of history...10 years of it...
"Parklife" is next and look! it's Phil Daniels! He shouts "bell boy!" out loud at damon, then at the other 3 members as he comes walking across the stage. "Phil Daniels, the original," shouts damon as we cheer Phil on. " Anyone who accuses us of being nostalgic on this is way out of order..." damon declares, to which we all laugh out loud. Yeah right!
"End of the Century" follows as 2 chandeliers are lowered from high above the stage on stage left and right. damon pause, then begins singing as the video from "Showtime" is shown. Graham quacks again after this song ends.
damon picks up the toy trumpet again and says, "bad tuning, can't seem to get it to work, very frustrating..." but decides to play it anyway, and it makes electronic sounds. "Country House" begins and all are singing along.
Whilst the concert is going on, damon has come to stage right sevearl times, climbed up on the speakers and sang high atop the speakers. He comes over again as "The Universal" begins and when he sings "yes, it really really really could happen..." right in front of me, so high up, I believe him. He notices green glitter being sprayed from behind Dave's drums and laughs and smiles with an amused look on his face and looks at Graham as if to ask, "have you seen that?" Graham, in the meantime, carries on with his guitar playing.
"Showtime" videos for the "Stereotypes" and "Charmless Man" are shown as blur play these songs. After these songs end, they leave the stage for about ten minutes then return with damon saying, "right...the second part." He continues by saying, "you can have water, but not cigarettes, 'cause they're not good for you!" as he puffs his own fag. The crowd boos and damon declares, "I'm trying to please you, trying to give you what you want." Then "Beetlebum" begins. A yellow and pink cloth backdrop made out of material fabric is revealed (a bit psychedelic) as a backdrop.
damon prefaces the next song by saying,"make a lot of noise on this one," and we do as "Song 2" begins. "On Your Own" follows as damon repeats "hip hip ha ha" or something like that to give the song its funky mood. Graham quacks for the third time tonight after this song. Next is "M.O.R." and damon gestures for us to give them our all, we try our darndest to comply.
"Now it's something very different. Needs to have everyone singing, to be involved," says damon and introduces the London Community Gospel Choir and says that it's a special treat to have them here. He keeps gesturing with his arms as if to say, "sing it!" We do just that. Thousands of us wailing...
We all sing along with Graham to "Coffee & TV." damon plays melodica at the end. Graham seemed to have some technical difficulties with his guitar system midway through and grimaces several times. Poor Graham!
After the song ends, damon says, "thank you for coming and putting up with us the last 10 years...have a nice Christmas." and a heartfelt rendition of "No Distance Left to Run" begins. After the song ends, we applaud wildly. damon applauds us back, Dave stands up, applauds us, and puts two thumbs up as if to say, "you were an ace audience!" Graham had the last word as he said, "thanks a lot for the good times" before leaving the stage. I am a bit pensive as a result...
BRITGIRL
This is the sixth in a series of neverending blur gig reports by BRITGIRL. Copyright belongs solely to BRITGIRL and
reproduction permitted only by prior written consent.
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