Entertain Me!


blur live at the Que Club, Birmingham, England

August/September/October 2000

June 24, 1998

Upon entering the Que Club at 8:45 pm, I stop by the concessions stand and buy an assortment of blur merchandise. With my stash in hand, I head upstairs and take a look . The Que Club, having had it's doors open at 8:00 pm, is already jam packed on the first floor standing area with wall to wall people. This is, after all, the first blur fan club gig full of gung-ho die-hard blur fanatics. No space for lil' ole me...So I look around, there's a second level, the balcony that seems to go all the way up. I end up sitting relatively close to the blokes in the blur horn section, with a strategic, unobliterated, view of the stage from Graham's side...Yeah! So I am sitting there on the first step, perhaps 15 feet away from Graham, and happy as a little girl. I know I will get a super view from where I am ensconsed. Graham's guitars look close enough to touch...damon's guitar is also propped up on a guitar stand in front of Dave's drum kit and Alex's bass to the right of the drum kit area.

This being the blur fan club gig with anyone over 14 admitted, there are a lot of boys and girls in their mid-teenage years. They keep singing the song of the moment, "Vindaloo," over and over again, as they call out for blur to come onstage.

Finally, the lights dim at 9:30 pm and screams of delight are heard. The fab four appear onstagelooking good, very good, in fact. They have smiles on their faces that tell us that they know that, tonight, this venue is full of people who love them so. Before the first song, "Girls and Boys" begins, damon reminds everyone that they haven't played for over 6 months, so to please be easy on them. Alex is wearing a dark blur sweatshirt and short pants; damon, a brown t-shirt and denim pants; Graham, a cute T-shirt with Das Hund's mascot on it and short pants as well; Dave has shaved off quite a bit of his hair and is wearing glasses! First time I've seen him wear them at a gig!

The next song damon introduces by saying, "I never played in a church before," as he gazes around the interior of the former church-turned-club. "This is a holy song," he says, as "On Your Own" begins. Next is "Beetlebum," which he sings on que, unlike last night, at the Reading gig. The horn section moves toward the stage as the next song comes up, it is "End of the Century." It's so much fun to be able to listen and watch the horn section so close, as I have never had a chance to do so before. The brass instruments and blur blend into one another smoothly and create such good harmony. Next, "Country Sad Ballad Man," damon seems to thoroughly enjoy performing tonight as he gets so excited at the end that he swings his guitar to the right, a'la Elvis circa Sun Records era and belts out, "I'm a ballad ma~~~~~~~~~~n!"

Dave is smiling throughout, he seems to be having a tremendously good time as well. The stage rear spotlight falls on me and colors me white and blue and I feel embarrassed since that exposes me to all four members. All of them seem to have felt my steady gaze that they look over my way, but none more so than Graham who seems to have set his focus on me when he looks this way. He constantly seems curious as to my reaction to the songs, and I give him finger gestures (not of that kind, mind you), but peace signs, thumbs up, smiles, and generally sway to the music and lose myself in it from time to time with my eyes closed.

The next song is a case in point, it's "South Park," (later to be entitled "Trailerpark,") I focus on the sounds tonight and like the funkiness of it, as well as the harmony in the disharmony. Graham influence felt tremendously in the song, with a hint of Beck-ish-ness that makes me wonder if Beck might have sacrificed his own mother to the Devil to have been so inspired as to write a song such as this that blur have written. I like the repetitions of "freestyle," which give it a feeling of being an expansive and infinite type of music. 60's type keyboard sounds give way to a headbanging metamorphosis. Yeah! Proof positive that blur won't be pigeon-holed. That's the way you ought to be, blur!

The seventh song, "Popscene" begins and damon kneels down before Graham with his right forefinger up. He pays homage to G.G.G. and seems to say, "you're number one, Graham!" This is really nice, a real bond they seem to have. This is the song that gets them pogo-ing. The song means a lot to both damon and Graham as they both pogo up and down, with Graham rolling over once (backwards!) with his guitar still strapped to his chest. Amazing! That would be a fun thing to do, wouldn't it?

During the 8th song, "M.O.R.," something happens to damon's mic and we can't hear him, so the audience sings the chorus for him. It comes back on after a few minutes, phew! damon squats down low, peels a candy wrapper, pops a candy in his mouth before he starts singing the 9th song, "There's No Other Way." That just seemed so professional and cute, to keep such things out of sight...Maybe he has a sore throat? (this was later confirmed at a gig that followed...poor damon).

"Repetition" begins with Graham playing guitar, then Dave comes in on his drums. The song must seem very slow to the four playing/singing it, I think, as it sounds very slow to me. I sway to the music, though, nice song to sway to.

In the eleventh song, "Killer For Your Love," Graham really gets into playing his axe, his fingers are a marvel travelling across the guitar strings. Cool are his movements-strumming the strings then bringing them up sharply to keep the rhythm going. Nice!

"Coping" follows and ends in the blink of an eye (you know?). "For Tomorrow" follows with the audience "Lalala-ing" all the way through with damon.Graham takes a few sips from his beer, damon, from his water bottle. Graham has been looking in my direction often and when our eyes meet, he'd shift them quickly in his shy, boyish, way, and makes faces too. From my vantage point tonight, I'm getting to know Graham a lot more than I ever have, and am enjoying doing so.

The 14th song, "This is a Low," is powerful and moving. Don't you just love this song? I do, especially since damon sings it with all his heart each and every time. Bliss!

They say "thank you" and retreat backstage. "Vindaloo" is being sung again to call them back on stage. Within moments they are back to do a 5-song encore. The first begins with the familiar barks. "Parklife" is followed by "The Universal," which is then followed by "Death of a Party," Graham rotates his right arm Pete Townsend-like, looks like his arm is tired out. Who'd blame him for having a tired arm? Next is "Essex Dogs," and everyone listens quietly as damon sits in front of Dave's drum kit and gives his rendition of it (the words keep changing here and there live, have you all noticed that?) All listen quietly with rapt attention. The last song is coming up, damon indicates with the raising of one finger and it's "Song 2." Alex is doing his hip swivel as he plays his bass. He must be feeling perky and not so hot tonight (unlike last night at the Alley Cat when we were all ready to croak from the oppressive heat). The concert which began at 9:30 ended at 11:00. Back at the B&B, I hear that the guests there to see Dylan and Van Morrisson are pumped up from their gigs, but they couldn't hold a candle to this red hot mama completely intoxicated from the blur gig. Cheers to another great night, lads...

BRITGIRL

This is the seventh 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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