Back to Basics. Blur, Point Depot, 28th November. Blur performed without any frills, a basic set and simple lighting was the order of the day. The play-list consisted of the very old stuff and the very new, all that fell in between ("Parklife" and "The Great Escape") mostly avoided. Although not known as a great live act Blur's gig did have some great moments. Albarn seemed much happier when performing the more cerebral stuff. Their rendition of "This is a Low" was a reminder that they can do the business if they want to. Damon was in his element when singing the old material, mostly from "Modern Life is Rubbish". The band gave everything to performing "There's no Other Way" and "Taking the fun out of Everything" unluckily for most of the audience who were not old enough to remember last Christmas never mind Blur's first album. They were mostly pre-pubescent and seemed preoccupied with recovering from throwing up their Bulmers in the over populated loos. The audience, however, was pacified with the playing of nearly the entire new album "Blur". The Dorian Gray of Britpop, Albarn is nearly thirty years old and proved that he can still pogo for an hour and a half without getting out of breath. He was entirely pissed off playing the commercial successes "Girls and Boys" and "Parklife" and happily left out "Country House". The rest of the band seemed to be in good form, Graham Coxon typically spent his time concentrating on his guitar strings while Alex James seemed relaxed and puffed on a fag for most of the gig. I never knew that Blur were paricularly eco-friendly but they certainly seemed to be anxious about conserving energy on the night, mostly their own. Perhaps it was nervous tension, as the gig was the kick off to the British tour and Damon did mention he was nervous coming on. Nonetheless, Blur left us after one encore wanting more and none of the elation of a truly great gig. by Jessie Keatley.