![]() Come to think of it, Blur really was working the London angle for this crowd with songs like “For Tomorrow” and “London Loves”. The surprises are the new song “Under the Westway” and the “Chemical World” b-side “Young and Lovely”, both of which are, according to Albarn’s stage banter, specific to London. There’s only one early song, “Sing”, which wasn’t included on most pressings of their debut album Leisure. The Hyde Park setlist is mostly the kind of thing you would expect from Blur at this point in their career heavy on their breakthrough albums Parklife and Modern Life Is Rubbish, carefully selected singles and fan favorites from the second half of the ’90s and only one single from the 2003’s mostly Coxon-less Think Tank. ![]() It’s at least three-and-half hours of live Blur and you’re bound to have some overlap (the new single “Under the Westway” and its b-side “The Puritan” each appear three times). The expanded package features the Hyde Park show in its entirety, tracks gathered from other shows leading up to the Olympics and a warm up gig at the 100 Club in its entirety. There’s the 2 CD package, the DVD, and a 4 CD package with the DVD and an enormous book of photos. Parklive comes in a few different formats. It’s got it all a tight and hungry band eager to please, an electric audience on the receiving end, lots of nostalgia without the sap and a glimpse into the future without any reservations. To anyone comforted by Blur’s return, Parklive, a document of the band’s performance in London’s Hyde Park for the closing ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics, is a warm and fuzzy package. What started as a few reunion shows in 2009 has given way to future festival engagements and even some new studio recordings. A lunch date for the four members ignited reunion rumors which Albarn and the rest were quick to shoot down. Albarn didn’t want to do any more Blur without Coxon, and Coxon didn’t want to do any more Blur. Not only did it throw the existence of Blur into question, but fans worldwide bore witness to how two formerly close friends just couldn’t see eye-to-eye anymore. The acrimonious split between frontman Damon Albarn and guitarist Graham Coxon was a painful thing to watch. Despite the best efforts of even the band themselves, this Britpop force of nature won’t retire. But for now, no plans.You just can’t stop Blur. And if in a year, or two, or five it feels right we might do that. We focus on what we should be doing right now. We can’t say that we’ll never bring it back – we don’t have plans to – but it’s one of those things. You know how some festivals clearly can’t come back because they did really badly or spectacularly went down in flames by cancelling, or threw out two-for-one tickets the week of the event, I think Parklife has been good from start to now. ![]() Clearly it would be a pretty big thing for us to bring it back again but I guess one thing I’m happy with is that we didn’t let it ruin itself or go down the drain. “ Will Parklife return? Who knows? It’s not on this year. Watch: Listen Out 2013 line up announcement ![]() You can read the full comment on Parklife’s future below. However, the line up for Listen Out will be dropping very, very soon and with the pulling power Fuzzy still has, the new festival is sure to please even the most devout patron of Parklife. Kicking off in September, it normally marks the start of a big summer festival season. Parklife has developed into one of the most prominent music festivals Down Under. “We focus on what we should be doing right now. “We can’t say that we’ll never bring it back – we don’t have plans to – but it’s one of those things,” he says. Wall adds that while their focus is on the new event, Parklife will sit on the backburners.
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