Blur review – glorious reunion buzzes with energy and ragged joy

Wembley Stadium, London
The enduring friendship between Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon, Alex James and Dave Rowntree shines via in a set that veers from lairy capers to bittersweet ballads

Has anyone ever been extra excited to headline Wembley Stadium than Damon Albarn? The Blur frontman anoints it “a temple for the agnostic”, pays tribute to Freddie Mercury at Reside Help, delights in the echo when he speaks, and turns breakneck instrumental Lot 105 into an ode to the place, teaching the gang to chant “Wembley” in rhythm. “Clearly we’ve been waiting for this second all our lives,” he says. That a lot could be very clear.

Blur give good reunion. Their bridge-mending set at Glastonbury in 2009 was one of the crucial emotional nights in the pageant’s historical past. Marking the closing of the London Olympics at Hyde Park in 2012, they felt quite like Britain’s national band. The joys of headlining Wembley for 2 nights – a trophy that eluded them at their mid-90s peak – insures towards diminishing returns. Albarn could also be a famously stressed musician, slaloming between Gorillaz, Africa Categorical and so forth, however he's all the time visibly moved to be sharing a stage with Graham Coxon, Alex James and Dave Rowntree, whose four-cornered friendship is crucial to their attraction. Basically unchanged of their 50s, they still appear to be the one 90s band who might have been an animated TV show.