The best days of our lives...
No, I don't mean the horrible school disco song, guaranteed to instantly take us all back to darkened school hall discos and trying to make out with Tina 'Big Jugs' McClure in the darkness without the teachers noticing. I mean of course, the musical geniuses more commonly known as Blur.

Dad first introduced me to them in the early 90s- just about the time Parklife came out. And I loved them ever since. I would prance about like a mad thing to Parklife, and sit and be reflective like only a spotty teenager can be when listening to This is a Low. Hell, they even helped me form a few fleeting friendships, now since consigned to the dustbin of history due to the ever present problems of distance, time and laziness. Blur then took me through my teenage years, when the Best Of came out whilst I was at university, and became the soundtrack to me getting to know who I was. Well, apart from still liking Blur, I'm still trying to figure that out. And as time went on, my musical tastes broadened and deepened, and in some cases were cut off, as I realised I wasn't really cut out for the metal head life style. Always too much of a hippie I guess. But, as times and tastes changed, and bands broke up, reformed and broke up again, my love of Blur still remained.

And then, a couple of years ago, when I found out they Blur were reforming for a tour in England, I jumped at the chance of tickets. And missed out. Spectacularly. To say I was gutted is to say that Beth Ditto is merely porky. And then, thanks to the wonders of eBay, I managed to get tickets. At about half the price they should have been. With my mood improved, I eagerly counted the days to the gig in Hyde Park, and then on that magical day I rocked up to the gig, tickets in hand and had one of the most fantastic experiences of my life. The day was warm, long and the beer flowing all too freely. I was muntered, well and truly. But it didn't seem to have that much of an effect on me. Some much adrenaline running round my system, I guess. Not that I was complaining, I was having a whale of a time. And it could only get better. As the gig ended, we all piled into the local tube station. And I was in a very good mood- and as such, I started to sing, as I am wont to do on such occasions. And then other people joined in, and soon enough the whole underground station was filled with the sound of people singing.

Every time I hear any Blur song it takes me back to that singular moment in time when I was at peace in one of the busiest parts of the world.
( jim_bob can herd cats., Thu 28 Jan 2010, 17:18, Reply)