Blur, Newcastle City Hall, 28 May 2023. Picture credit: AA
Graham Coxon has shared his thoughts on Blur’s Coachella 2024 performance and addressed the unenthusiastic and “bored” crowd.
The Britpop icons headlined the main stage of the Californian festival in April, delivering a career-spanning set featuring hits like ‘Song 2’ and ‘Popscene’. However, during their performance of ‘Girls & Boys,’ the crowd’s subdued reaction visibly frustrated frontman Damon Albarn.
“You can do it better than that,” Albarn told the audience while trying to lead a sing-along to the 1994 track, only to be met with a lukewarm response. Frustrated, he added, “You’re never seeing us again, so you might as well fucking sing it. Know what I’m saying?”
In a new interview with GQ, Coxon discussed the US performance. “I like making albums. I’m perfectly happy on stage, but sometimes, like at Coachella or something, it’s taken you 14 hours to get there, and then you’re playing to people who don’t give a shit. They’re looking at you like, ‘Who’s this old git?’” he said.
He continued, “I love an audience that’s smiling their heads off and having a great time because you’re doing it for them. But if I see audiences of people that are bored, like maybe Coachella, I just do it for myself. I enjoy what I’m doing. I smile at the grumpy faces a couple of times to see if I can change their expression, then I just get on with what I wanna do. Pull faces at Dave. Laugh at Damon when he’s getting things wrong or whatever, just have a laugh. What else can you do? You’ve gone all that way, there’s no point in having a miserable time.”
Albarn had also commented on the Coachella audience in an interview with KROQ, saying, “I don’t know, it’s a weird one Coachella when it comes to audience. It’s hard to know sometimes because they’re quite sort of on their own planet really.”
In the GQ interview, Coxon also reflected on Blur’s massive Wembley stadium performances, describing the experience as “incredibly exciting and exhilarating,” adding, “It was really incredibly exciting and exhilarating, and we played great – thank God.”
The future of Blur remains uncertain, with Albarn recently suggesting that their second Coachella 2024 show might be their last. The band recently attended the London premiere of their new documentary, Blur: To The End.
Directed by Transgressive Records founder Toby L, the film documents the reunion of Albarn, Coxon, Alex James, and Dave Rowntree, the recording of their 2023 comeback album ‘The Ballad Of Darren’, and their massive shows at London’s Wembley Stadium last summer.
The documentary premiered in London on Tuesday (July 16) and will be released in cinemas on Friday (July 19).
Following the documentary, their concert film Blur: Live at Wembley Stadium will be released, with a live album dropping on July 26, followed by the film’s cinema release across the UK and Ireland on September 6.
Elsewhere, the director of To The End spoke to NME about the emotional process of making the film, and bassist Alex James revealed that he had doubts about the band reuniting before their comeback last year.
In other Graham Coxon news, his project with Rose Elinor Dougall, The WAEVE, has recently announced their new album ‘City Lights’. It’s due for release on September 20.