Blur to play summer Dublin concert

Blur are to play a concert in the grounds of the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) this summer, their only scheduled concert in Ireland or Britain this year.

The concert, their first in Ireland for four years, takes place on Thursday, August 1st.

The venue, which has previously hosted concerts by Leonard Cohen, is also the location for the Forbidden Fruit summer festival which will be announced tomorrow.

Promoter John Reynolds said Blur have no other plans to play concerts in Ireland or the UK. “This is the only gig in the British Isles this year. I can categorically tell you that” he said. “They like the whole dynamic of the place. They are the perfect band to show at IMMA.”

He said the band’s management were taken by the idea of playing a concert in a museum of modern art.

It will be Blur’s first standalone concert in Ireland for 14 years since the heyday of Britpop. The band made a celebrated comeback four years ago which included a headline performance at the Oxegen festival.

Following their Outstanding Contribution to Music Brit Award of last year, the band debuted two new songs at their sold-out show at Hyde Park, which closed the London Olympics.

Blur are embarking on a world tour which starts next week at the Vive Latino Festival in Mexico City which is followed by an appearance at the Coachella Festival in California.

Blur, one of the most influential and successful of the last two decades, have no plans to record new music this year, according to guitarist Graham Coxon.

“I'm going to do some shows with the big band -Blur - and just go to some fun places and play to some people," he told the BBC.

Tickets for the Dublin show go on sale on Thursday 7th March 2013 through Ticketmaster, priced at €62.50 each (including fees) and are available from 9.00am.