Coachella crowds are notoriously awful, but the response to Blur’s Saturday set was especially jarring.
By all accounts, the Britpop legends put on a phenomenal show. Their setlist contained several surprises, including rare performances of “Death of a Party,” “Out of Time,” “Trouble in the Message Centre,” and “Beetleblum,” as well as an on-stage collaboration with the indigenous Torres Martinez Cahuilla Bird Singers.
And yet, whether because the younger-skewing audience was unfamiliar with the band’s discography and/or because they had showed up early for Tyler, the Creator’s headlining set that was to follow, the crowd didn’t seem to vibe with Blur’s music. Video from the festival’s livestream (as seen below) captured a pretty lifeless crowd — even during performances of anthems like “Popscene,” “Girls & Boys” and “Song 2.”
It was during “Girls & Boys” that Blur frontman Damon Albarn finally had enough. After several failed attempts to get the audience to sing along to the chorus, Albarn jokingly warned (?) the crowd, “You’ll never see us again, so you might as well fucking sing this.”
For what it’s worth, Albarn wasn’t entirely caught off guard by the reaction. In a pre-show interview with KROQ, Albarn acknowledged the festival’s problematic crowds, saying, “It’s a weird one — Coachella, when it comes to audience. They’re quite so on their own planet.”
You can find all of our Coachella 2024 coverage here, and read our recent cover story on Blur.