These comeback-saturated days, it’s hard to keep track of which bands are dormant, defunct or quietly in operation. Blur were ostensibly the former, but last week revealed they’d actually spent [some of] the last two years recording The Magic Whip, their first album in a decade. The band will play a London show in the summer (20 Jun, Hyde Park, W2), and have hinted there’ll be more dates to come …
Also on a comeback trail of sorts is Damien Rice. He only played one accompanying show when his eight-years-in-the-making, Rick Rubin-produced third album My Favourite Faded Fantasy (sounding unfortunately like the title of a Kanye West’s 2010 record as remade by the world’s blandest man) came out in 2014; this year he’ll plays three (9-13 Jun, tour starts Usher Hall, Edinburgh) …
If you’re looking for the Blurs and Damien Rices of tomorrow (the positions should be vacant by about 2050 at this rate), plaintive, wispy-voiced singer Rae Morris tours in the autumn after a stint supporting Tom Odell (2-15 Oct, tour starts Stylus, Leeds) …
While Only Real, who like Blur deals in tales of west London life, plays the capital next month (30 Apr, 100 Club, W1).
