Blur played two intimate gigs at Londonโs Maida Vale Studios yesterday (July 31) and aired a number of rare tracks.
The four-piece, who recently broadcast their two new songs, โUnder The Westwayโ and โThe 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.
Among the tracks aired in the BBC Radio 6Music session were โCaramelโ, a track from the bandโs 1999 album 13 which they had never previously played live, and โYoung & Lovelyโ, a B-Side from 1993, which theyโd 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 โPopsceneโ, โFor Tomorrowโ, โTenderโ, new single โUnder The Westwayโ, โThe Universalโ and the first airing of โMr 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.
The shows will act as a warm-up for the bandโs huge outdoor gig at Londonโs 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 Swedenโs Way Out West festival in August.
Blur released a career-spanning boxset on Monday (July 30). Titled 21, the collection includes the bandโs seven studio albums as well as over five hours of previously unreleased material including 65 tracks, rarities, three DVDs, a collectorโs edition book and special limited edition Seymour seven-inch vinyl.
Blur played:
BBC Radio 6 Setlist
Jubileeโ
โThe Puritanโ
โCaramelโ
โTrimm Trabbโ
โYoung & Lovelyโ
โUnder The Westwayโ
BBC Radio 2 Setlist
โTracy Jacksโ
โBeetlebumโ
โOut Of Timeโ
โYoung & Lovelyโ
โEnd Of A Centuryโ
โMr. Briggsโ
โTenderโ
โThis Is A Lowโ
โUnder The Westwayโ
โPopsceneโ
โFor Tomorrowโ
โThe Universalโ
Please fill in our quick survey about Uncut โ and you could win a 12-month subscription to the magazine. Click here to see the survey. Thanks!