Playing their first gig as a four-piece in nearly a decade, the band – who first confirmed their reformation toNME.COM last year – performed in a converted goods shed at Chappel And Wakes Colne just outside the town centre, the scene of the band's first ever public performance 20 years earlier.
"If you could make your way into the hall," frontman Damon Albarninstructed the crowd, which included long-term producer Stephen Street, as they kicked off with first ever single 'She's So High', before dipping into two tracks from 1994 album 'Parklife' in the form of 'Girls And Boys' and 'Tracy Jacks'.
"It's a bit different to last time we played here," Albarn later told the audience ahead of a rocked-up version of 'Jubilee', referring to the birthday party the group originally performed at the museum while they were still called Seymour.
"Thanks for coming to see us play," the singer told the fans ahead of 'Trimm Trabb'. "I don't know if it's been 10 years, but 10 years is an easy number!"
Lead singer duties were then handed over to guitarist Graham Coxon for'Coffee & TV', before he shared vocals with Albarn on 'Tender'.
They then tore through a faithful rendition of Number One single 'Country House' rather than the revamped version the band had previously hinted at playing.
Later, the four-piece performed single 'Parklife' with Albarn, bouncing around the stage, delivering all the vocals in the absence of actor Phil Daniels, who is expected to link-up with them at later dates.
Playing a spirited version of 'End Of A Century', Blur then ploughed into'To The End'.
Ending their initial set with 'This Is A Low', the band quickly re-emerged to blast into 'Popscene'.
'Advert' followed, with Albarn stage-diving into the audience and crowd surfing around during the instrumental section, before the band then showed off a version of 'Song 2' which saw them slowly build the drums up to the track's usual frenetic speed.
Proving there are no hard feelings, Blur then performed 'Out Of Time', a track Coxon did not originally feature on due to his absence from the band during most of the 'Think Tank sessions, though his spine-chilling guitar part aptly fitted into the song.
Fittingly, they followed it with 'Battery In Your Leg' – the one track on the same album the guitarist did perform on.
After a hand vote in the audience between 'Sing' and 'Essex Dogs', the latter, in its home county, predictably won, before the group wrapped up their two-hour set with 'For Tomorrow' and 'The Universal'.
Blur played:
'She’s So High'
'Girls And Boys'
'Tracy Jacks'
'There's No Other Way'
'Jubilee'
'Badhead'
'Beetlebum'
'Trimm Trabb'
'Coffee & TV'
'Tender'
'Country House'
'Charmless Man'
'Colin Zeal'
'Oily Water'
'Chemical World'
'Sunday Sunday'
'Parklife'
'End Of A Century'
'To The End'
'This Is A Low'
'Popscene'
'Advert'
'Song 2'
'Out Of Time'
'Battery In Your Leg'
'Essex Dogs'
'For Tomorrow'
'The Universal'
And don't forget about the Best Of Blur Collection, released in America this summer. It will be called ''Midlife: A Beginners Guide To Blur'' . Here's the tracklisting:
CD1
Beetlebum
Girls & Boys
For Tomorrow
Coffee & TV
Out Of Time
Blue Jeans
Song 2
Bugman
He Thought Of Cars
Death Of A Party
The Universal
Sing
This Is A Low
CD2
Tender
Shes So High
Chemical World
Good Song
Parklife
Advert
Popscene
Stereotypes
Trimm Trabb
Badhead
Strange News From Another Star
Battery In Your Leg
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