In what seems curiously close to a sense of deja vu, Blur are not only being written about on this blog twice in one week, but they're also set to play London's Hyde Park again, this time with The Specials and New Order tagging along for the ride in an Olympics-closing celebration of 'The Best Of British'. Tickets? A snip at £55. Gawd bless Britannia, guv'nor.
The news broke last night with a Metroland-tastic poster on the band's Facebook page, announcing that the sometime Britpoppers have accepted an invite to headline a gig festooned in sponsorship, which will commemorate the end of the sponsorship-festooned Olympics.
This, as many a Londoner will tell you, will be cause for celebration indeed, not least as ambulances carrying the sick and injured will again be able to use roads which, during the games jambouree, will be reserved for the chauffeur-driven Pooh-Bahs of the Olympics movement, saving them the horror of having to use TfL's assortment of public transport with all the little people.
After Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon's short War Child pre-BRITs show earlier this week at the Shepherd's Bush Empire, where they debuted a new track called Under The Westway, the full band get together for the BRIT Awards ceremony tonight at the O2 Arena. There they will receive an award for their Outstanding Contribution To Music... nearly a decade after they last released an album. They're set to play Tender with an orchestra, we hear; we'll have a blog from the ceremony, though you can watch it on ITV1 if you're in need of a televisual take.
