Last orders: Britpop pioneers Blur head for Hong Kong on farewell tour
The brains behind the Britpop movement are finally calling it a day, but not before a final farewell tour, writes Charlie Carter
are about to make their historic debut in China with a hit-packed Hong Kong gig that will feature some of the biggest songs of the past quarter century.
Five years after reforming for a handful of British shows, the Girls and Boys and Song 2 stars will call on the city as they travel the world playing thank-you concerts to their armies of overseas fans.
While the shows are being billed as the Londoners' farewell tour, singer Damon Albarn is keeping fans guessing as to what the future holds for the influential four-piece.
"We felt it was only fair that if we played a few gigs in England we should do that for everyone who wanted to see us around the world one more time," Albarn says, in an exclusive interview with 48 Hours.
The May 6 gig at the cavernous AsiaWorld-Arena follows sell-out shows in Mexico City and at the Coachella Festival in California. The band will then go on to concerts in Taipei, Japan and Europe, finishing off in Berlin in September.
Never one for giving a straight answer, Albarn initially insists these shows will be Blur's last ever, seemingly putting to rest any hope of the band making their 2009 reunion permanent. Then he adds with a knowing chuckle: "Then again, I've said that many times before."
After almost two decades of hits, Blur called it a day in 2003 when Albarn and his writing partner and childhood friend, guitarist Graham Coxon, fell out over how the band should develop. It put the pioneers of the 1990s Britpop movement on ice, at a time when Blur had notched up multimillion record sales with albums such as Parklife, The Great Escape and their moving finale, Think Tank.