Blur Frontman Damon Albarn Loses It During Coachella Performance

Long-running British pop band Blur has recently performed at Coachella, the first time they appeared at the legendary music festival since 2013. However, their gig played on April 13th did not go down the way Damon Albarn and the crew had hoped it would.

Partway through the performance, while singing their 1994 hit “Boys & Girls," Albarn stopped to accost the crowd. He reportedly told the attendees, who showed little enthusiasm for what they had been watching and listening to on stage,

“You’re never seeing us again, so you might as well fucking sing it!”.

That was an odd statement to make, given the fact the band had already been scheduled for a second performance at the festival for April 20th. The show was not canceled, and Blur did show up to their encore performance. However, Albarn reiterated his message from the previous show, saying “In the spirit of clarity and truth, this is probably our last gig.”

This statement was interpreted by some as the lead singer announcing the band’s break-up, but it’s more likely it was referring to their appearances on Coachella, as it was followed up by Albarn saying “no reflection on Coachella - I love Coachella, it’s beautiful”.

However, talking of a break-up isn’t unimaginable either, as Blur has broken up and reunited multiple times before. The last instance of dismantlement happened in 2019; and the band has been back together touring again since 2022.

People on social media seem to be taking Blur’s side, with some calling the crowd’s behavior “embarrassing,” while another X (Twitter) user wrote “this coachella crowd doesn’t deserve blur”.

Blur was scheduled to perform on the festival’s main stage before Tyler, the Creator. Perhaps the bigger name on the marquee drew a crowd of alt hip hop fans, who didn’t necessarily “vibe” with 1990’s brit pop songs.