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The last time they played together, the British economy was booming, "Britpop" had taken the music charts by storm and a fresh-faced Tony Blair still epitomised Cool Britannia.
Now, almost a decade on and in very different times, the rock band Blur to is to re-form for a Hyde Park gig next year, nine years after their last concert.
Blur epitomised the era of Britpop, along with the Manchester group Oasis, but broke up in 2002 when lead guitarist Graham Coxon quit. Announcing plans for the show, Coxon and the band's singer-songwriter, Damon Albarn, spoke of the events that led to Blur's break-up and talked about their decision with fellow musicians Alex James and Dave Rowntree
to reunite for the July 3 concert.
In an interview with NME, Albarn said: "Ten years ago, Graham and I found ourselves very uncomfortable, very oversensitive with each other and it hasn't felt comfortable before now.
"Now it feels like we should be accountable for that stuff and not just have it as a burden. It was something that had to be sorted out between Graham and myself, it goes right back to childhood, but it's just really nice. It feels really comfortable doing this. We feel happy to play
those songs together and that's exciting, it feels like a positive thing to do."
When asked if they had "buried the hatchet", Coxon said: "Although it's been a few years since the situation has been this way, emotionally it doesn't feel very long at all. We've both been doing other things that
have been to the benefit of ourselves rather than the benefit of a band and now feel, in ourselves, that the band is appropriate."
He suggested that their earlier difficulties had been amplified by a reluctance to break up because they did not want to hurt each other's feelings.
"When things were getting very complicated, we were both carrying some
troubles, but it was our group and we didn't want to hurt each other's feelings by saying 'look, I need a break'. Because we didn't want to
do that, it got even more complicated. But us not working together would
have happened sooner or later, so actually I think it was a good thing that it happened then."
Albarn admitted he had missed Coxon's company and the musical chemistry
they had shared. "I miss it! I miss that dynamic that Graham and I always had, it's great."
Coxon said he had missed Albarn's humour: "Damon's really funny though he doesn't know it himself and he doesn't know when he's being funny. There are certain little things that you miss about people." He hoped his guitar-playing had improved since his last performance with the
group.
"I can play the guitar better but that might be a bad thing! When we started, I could hardly play," he said.
Meanwhile, in an interview with Absolute Radio, Alex James admitted being nervous about the reunion: "The thought of doing it again is a bit scary actually."
News of Blur's reformation has fuelled a rush of speculation that the
band will also play at next year's Glastonbury Festival, which falls a week before the Hyde Park gig.
Whey they launched in the 1990s, they were hailed as the bright new sound of the Britpop genre, incorporating the music scene that was emanating from Manchester with "shoegazing" music.
They achieved mass popularity in Britain with hits such as Park Life,
Country House and Song 2 and were aided by a famous chart battle with Oasis, a high-profile spat dubbed "The Battle of Britpop".
- INDEPENDENT
