FOR Blur bassist Alex James, 2023 represents a “vintage” and “magical” year for the Britpop band. Reuniting for the first time since 2015, Damon Albarn , Graham Coxon, Dave Rowntree and Alex went “all in”. The year was capped by two momentous shows at England’s home of football , Wembley Stadium , but also yielded an acclaimed studio album, The Ballad Of Darren.
Now that the dust has settled, it’s time for reflection. We’ve already seen the release of an intimate fly-on-the-wall documentary about the reunion, Blur: To The End , and a live double album. Still to come next month is a cinema outing for the two-hour concert film Blur: Live At Wembley Stadium .
READ MORE ON BLUR And, in December, Alex’s book Over The Rainbow: Tales Of An Unexpected Year will be published. Right now, however, he’s masterminding The Big Feastival, an annual celebration of music and food, on his Cotswolds farm. Taking time out from hectic last-minute preparations for the three-day event, which starts today, Alex talks to Simon Cosyns about all things Blur .
Simon Cosyns: I’LL start with the big question. What does being a member of Blur mean to you? Most read in Music We were called to a meeting at Damon’s studio to see if we could still hack it. We literally hadn’t all been in a room together for years.
Alex James: It means everything to me. The reunion exceeded all expectations . Reconnecting in the way we did to do our best ever shows at this stage in our lives, I reali.