Blur - The Brighton Centre (February 2000, Flipside)

Oh sure - it might sound like a good idea, but if Celine Dion, or the Eurythmics, or even Oasis tried it out, we'd be in for an uneven and uneventful night. This, however, is Blur, and if anyone can give us decent value by playing all of their A-sides in the order in which they were released (having already done their B-sides gig some months ago), you'd put money on it being them. So, in typical style, they kick off with 'I Know', the, er, B-side of their first single. It's typically perverse but it's also a massive red herring, as, the rest of the night, they stick to their plan entirely, with predictably welcome results.
This is practically a testimonial and, with that in mind, they're both relaxed enough for Damon to have a quick tootle on a toy trumpet thrown onstage, and for Graham to cope as he just about fluffs his timing on 'Coffee + TV'. They're similarly savvy enough to know that they're pulling a crowd who'll be more than happy just to see the reappearance of Phil Daniels (this is Brighton, after all - where else could be more appropriate?). However, the little touches prove merely to be the icing on the cake, since, as far as the songs themselves go, the moments where every hair in the room finds itself standing to attention are too numerous to mention. It happens al the way through the ageing-surprisingly-well Parklife run of hits, and it's certainly true of 'Beetlebum', which brings them back onstage after their departure at going to embark on a moment's silence, you might as well unspokenly dedicate it to the death of the Britpop party - but, as tonight unquestionably shows, nothing with Blur ever was. We get to join the dots between their celebrated stylistic shifts by following Alex's trampoline bass foundation from 'Bang' (not, as Damon has it this evening, their worst song), via 'Girls & Boys', on to 'On Your Own'. We marvel at how close the "Think of her/Everyday/It doesn't help me" lyrics are debut 'She's So High' are to the sentiments of the closing 'No Distance Left To Run'. That's their genius. Well, that and the fact that 'Song 2' still detonates like absolutely nothing on Earth. Ever.
Their live history might be somewhat hit-and-miss, but tonight, Blur probably played the last classic gig of the 1990s and, somehow, it feels entirely the right thing to have happened. End of a century? Oh...it was something special.