The members of Blur have had varying fortunes this week, with Graham Coxon suffering food poisoning and Alex James making cheese for royalty.
Blur’s reformation has been one of the most triumphant live music events of the year. The Essex boys returned with a series of small scale gigs, notably charging onto the stage at the launch of their new ‘Best Of’ collection.
As their comeback gathered pace the venues increased in size. After collecting a hand picked support bill Blur took to the stage in London’s Hyde Park for two nights of thrills, spills and emotion.
The band then travelled to Worthy Farm for a headline set at Glastonbury. Opening with debut single ‘She’s So High’ Blur rattled through the hits, with singer Damon Albarn at one point on the verge of tears.
However disaster almost struck before Blur’s headline performance at T In The Park. Guitarist Graham Coxon came down with food poisoning and spent time in hospital. Battling against adversity the band played a triumphant set, finishing with ‘The Universal’.
Intriguingly, as a Twitter fan Graham Coxon may well have given away the identity of the restaurant which poisoned him. In one update the guitarist says “oysters and mackerel at the fishers, leith. super place!!”
However the following day he simply says “oh god that wasn’t nice.”
Bass player Alex James, meanwhile, has had some terrific news. After Blur went on hiatus in 2003 the musician became a gentleman farmer, and has won awards for his cheese. Alex James was recently informed that he will be making cheese for the Prince Of Wales, after agreeing a deal.
The managers at Highgrove House have asked the bass player turned farmer to work on half a million litres of organic milk. The cheese with then be sold through the estate of the Prince of Wales.
James told The Times “It will be the poshest cheese in the world but it’s only going to cost £3. I think everyone should be able to afford royal cheese.”
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Prince said: “Duchy Originals is delighted to be working with Alex James, one of Britain’s most exciting and passionate new cheese makers, to produce a cheese using the milk from the herd of Ayrshire cows on the Duchy Home Farm.”
