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

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

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

I was stunned, each whereas attending one of many live shows and watching the accompanying documentary movie To the End, at the band’s awe, virtually surprise, that they have been enjoying Wembley. You're, you need to remind them, top-of-the-line and most beloved bands in Britain. In Over the Rainbow, his memoir of Blur’s comeback yr, Alex James is either naive or a bit of disingenuous when he ponders if they might be capable of fill the national stadium: “Would anybody,” he wonders, “actually be persuaded to go to downtown Brent on a Saturday night time in summertime?”