Over the Rainbow: Tales from an Unexpected Year by Alex James review – Blur reunited

The britpop bassist tears himself away from cheese simply lengthy enough to play together with his previous bandmates in this joyfully chaotic memoir

Final July, Blur played the biggest shows of their history over two weekend nights at Wembley Stadium. For Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon, Alex James and Dave Rowntree, it was a signal moment in an objectively great band’s historical past. They weren’t simply large gigs, but emotional, highly effective live shows, with Albarn in tears on stage at one point.

I used to be stunned, both while attending one of many live shows and watching the accompanying documentary film To the Finish, on the band’s awe, virtually surprise, that they have been enjoying Wembley. You're, you need to remind them, probably the greatest and most beloved bands in Britain. In Over the Rainbow, his memoir of Blur’s comeback yr, Alex James is either naive or just a little disingenuous when he ponders if they might have the ability to fill the nationwide stadium: “Would anybody,” he wonders, “actually be persuaded to go to downtown Brent on a Saturday night time in summertime?”