Blur warmed up for their 2023 UK/EU tour with a very intimate performance at Colchester Arts Centre. The show, their first full set in eight years (they played three songs acoustic in 2019), featured the debuts of a few songs from their just-announced ninth album, The Ballad of Darren, including first single “The Narcissist,” and “St. Charles Square,” which opened the night. They also played great Modern Life is Rubbish deep cut “Villa Rosie” for the first time ever, and dusted off few others like “Chemical World,” “Oily Water,” and “Popscene.”

There were of course lots of favorites in the set, including “There’s No Other Way,” “Coffee & TV,” “Song 2,” “Girls & Boys,” “Beetlebum,” “Parklife,” “To the End,” “This is a Low,” “Tender,” “For Tomorrow,” and “The Universal.”

Pics and video from the show are just starting to hit social media, and you can check them out, along with the setlist, below.

The Ballad of Darren is out July 21 via Parlophone.

SETLIST: Blur @ Colchester Arts Centre 5/19/2023
St. Charles Square (Live debut)
There’s No Other Way
Popscene (First time live since 2013)
Trouble in the Message Centre
Chemical World (First time live since 2009)
Badhead
Beetlebum
Trimm Trabb
Villa Rosie (Live debut)
Coffee & TV
Out of Time
End of a Century
Parklife
To the End
Oily Water (First time live since 2012)
Advert
Song 2
This Is a Low

Encore:
Girls & Boys
The Narcissist (Live debut)
Tender
For Tomorrow
The Universal