BLUR’S EXTRAVAGANZA-HEADLINING SLOT IN HYDE PARK, TO MARK THE END OF THIS SUMMER’S OLYMPIC GAMES, IS NOW AVAILABLE AS A FIVE DISC DELUXE BOX SET FEATURING A HOST OF EXTRAS, OR AS A LESS OVERBLOWN DOUBLE CD SHOWCASING ONLY THE CONCERT ITSELF.
PARKLIVE reveals Blur on focused and uplifted form for what was purported to be Coxon, Rowntree, James and Albarn’s final live outing together, professionally pistolling a way through several famous moments – and some impressively included oddities – from their 20-year back catalogue.
A grandstanding and – literally – showstopping THE UNIVERSAL, plus a crowd-provoking PARKLIFE, with Phil Daniels showing up for geezery vocal duties, are the highlights.
Creditable bronze goes to UNDER THE WESTWAY, as beautiful and creative a song as the band ever managed but which, somehow, never quite fulfilled its promise when released as a single.
Amongst the also-rans, a mesmeric BEETLEBUM and a mantric SING are both of great merit, while the kinetic SONG 2 – long-since adopted by sports arenas the length and breadth of the country – achieves exactly what you would expect SONG 2 to achieve when its blue touch-paper has been lit in a crowded place.
Extra discs in the deluxe version document part of a warm-up show at the 100 Club plus other well-chosen highlights from lower-key summer dates, and a nicely edited film of the Hyde Park show. As product, PARKLIVE feels like a stop-gap souvenir – no more than a glossily inert and perfunctory postcard from a (very big) night out. It’s a cheerful enough package, with a couple of resonant moments, but inevitably it falls some way short in its ambition of being the definitive triumphantly crossed finish line for one of the most intelligent UK bands of recent times. You almost certainly had to be there to see it really really really happen.