Blur played two intimate gigs at Londonโ€™s Maida Vale Studios yesterday (July 31) and aired a number of rare tracks.

The four-piece, who recently broadcast their two new songs, โ€œUnder The Westwayโ€ and โ€œThe Puritanโ€ from a secret UK location via a live video stream performance on Twitter, first performed an intimate session for BBC Radio 6Music, which you can see at the bottom of the page.

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Among the tracks aired in the BBC Radio 6Music session were โ€œCaramelโ€œ, a track from the bandโ€™s 1999 album 13 which they had never previously played live, and โ€œYoung & Lovelyโ€, a B-Side from 1993, which theyโ€™d only previously played live once.

The band then played a gig for BBC Radio 2 which was aired live. This saw Blur play a 12-song set, which included โ€œPopsceneโ€, โ€œFor Tomorrowโ€, โ€œTenderโ€, new single โ€œUnder The Westwayโ€, โ€œThe Universalโ€ and the first airing of โ€œMr Briggsโ€ since 1999.

Blur kick off an intimate UK tour tonight (August 1) at Margate Winter Gardens. They will then play two shows at Wolverhampton Civic Hall on August 5 and 6, before finishing off at Plymouth Pavilions on August 7.

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The shows will act as a warm-up for the bandโ€™s huge outdoor gig at Londonโ€™s Hyde Park on August 12, which sees Blur topping a bill that also includes New Order and The Specials. The gig has been put on to coincide with the closing ceremony of the Olympic games. Blur are also scheduled to headline Swedenโ€™s Way Out West festival in August.

Blur released a career-spanning boxset on Monday (July 30). Titled 21, the collection includes the bandโ€™s seven studio albums as well as over five hours of previously unreleased material including 65 tracks, rarities, three DVDs, a collectorโ€™s edition book and special limited edition Seymour seven-inch vinyl.

Blur played:

BBC Radio 6 Setlist

Jubileeโ€™

โ€˜The Puritanโ€™

โ€˜Caramelโ€™

โ€˜Trimm Trabbโ€™

โ€˜Young & Lovelyโ€™

โ€˜Under The Westwayโ€™

BBC Radio 2 Setlist

โ€˜Tracy Jacksโ€™

โ€˜Beetlebumโ€™

โ€˜Out Of Timeโ€™

โ€˜Young & Lovelyโ€™

โ€˜End Of A Centuryโ€™

โ€˜Mr. Briggsโ€™

โ€˜Tenderโ€™

โ€˜This Is A Lowโ€™

โ€˜Under The Westwayโ€™

โ€˜Popsceneโ€™

โ€˜For Tomorrowโ€™

โ€˜The Universalโ€™

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