If Blur are becoming a bit road-weary, as reported in the music press recently, then it didn't show at their Point concert last night. From the opening bars of Beetlebum, Damon Albarn was up for it, and the band were ready to rip their back catalogue into tiny shreds and scatter them all over the venue.
The only time things looked like slowing down was when Damon hurt his foot following an ill-judged leap into the gap between the front barrier and the stage. But the singer hobbled on regardless, rousing the rabble with new songs like M.O.R. and On Your Own, and pleasing the devout fans with resurrected oldies like There's No Other Way and She's So High.
The band kept the tempo on the upper end of frantic, with quick-fire punk tunes like Gnome Alone and Chinese Bombs, and brassed-off anthems like Popscene and For Tomorrow. Blur have bounced around so many different styles in their five-album career, they were in danger of losing themselves, but songs like Country Sad Ballad Man and Death Of A Party seem to teeter nicely on the edge of chaos, keeping their balance and a certain sense of danger.
When the steady, synthesised rhythms of Boys And Girls kicks in, however, the crowd roar with recognition at this cosy holiday memory.
Blur close the set on This Is A Low, but somehow it feels as if the high point is yet to come, and it does with The Universal, an uplifting encore whose orchestral swell can reach the pit of your stomach. The band don't even bother with Country House, but Park Life provided enough jauntiness, and Killer For Your Love primed the audience for the short, sharp, shock of Song 2. Phew.
