"If Damon wants Blur to succeed," is cracking me up, but I agree with you. It just makes it sound like they're his new band he's trying to get established instead of a 30+ year old band that influenced Britpop lmao (they fought Oasis for years and this is how we repay them? dakLDS). But also like, apparently it was pretty rough. I found an even longer clip recently and felt even more secondhand embarrassment.

FWIW, I'm aware Blur is important, and having the chance to see them live is rare, esp over here. I honestly had no idea they were as unpopular in the US as they apparently are (I guess too many year of Gorillaz fans trying to make me a Damon superfan will have some effect). But also as someone who prefers to absorb the experience and listen to the music at concerts rather than jump around and play audience participation activities, I can't hate. And I can't hate because of all the other reasons I listed earlier.

At the very least, I hope this is something we can use as inspiration. If you're ever feeling nervous about posting the fic or art because you think no one else will like it, you can always remember that the potential silence will never be as deafening and widely witnessed as Blur performing "Girls & Boys" at Coachella.

ASDJAKJDSADa

Yesterday, my IRL friend asked me if I knew about "the Blur guy getting mad and telling everyone they're never playing again." She doesn't follow Gorillaz or Blur news, nor is she a fan, so lmao

OOhhh interesting! I never knew Damon wanting to be popular in the US was an actual thing. That puts SO many of their recent decisions into perspective. This is also a lesson in reading about Jamon...I never put a lot of time into that, but if I had, I would have had confirmation of something I kinda assumed was true, but didn't want to say without a source lmao. Kudos to you, anon.

Damon shares a lot of similarities with Murdoc, imo. I believe there's an old interview floating around with either Cass of Jamie where they say they used some of Damon's stories from touring as inspiration when writing for Gorillaz, so I wouldn't be surprised if the last part of your ask was at least partially true.

Aaahh I'm late to this. You probably figured it out by now, but in case you didn't - basically, there was a sparse/dead crowd for their set and Coachella, and he was irritated by this. I didn't watch their set, but I saw clips on discord...not as much luck on Youtube, but this clip from the Blur subreddit captures the gist of it.

The thing is, this has happened before, and at least going by what his fans says, he was probably expecting this, so like, why do it to himself? I see some saying it was just him "joking around and unbothered," but idk...he also got weird about the crowd participation at the last Gorillaz concert I attended, I do think it genuinely bothers him (and ngl, watching it gives me some secondhand embarrassment fdjakldf). And I don't accept the hate towards festival goers coming from Blur/Gorillaz fans for the reasons I mentioned in my earlier post.

All that being said, I think some of the headlines are being dramatic about it by taking his words literally...like, they'll definitely play in the US again and are still in the line up for weekend 2 lmao.

Anon, ty again for alerting me to Damon's most recent Coachella appearance. I would have never known! But it brought me amusement to brightened my evening last night.

On the other hand, I'm starting to wonder why we (the fandom) have to have the same conversation every time he performs at the festival. Yes, Coachella crowds, especially at the main stage, are somewhat "dead." This is a give because 1.) It's hot and people have been on their feet all day 2.) A lot of people in the front row having been camping there all day waiting for the headliner or sub-headliner - they aren't likely to know much about the acts leading up to that! 3.) The US is not as familiar with Damon's music as the UK. None of these reasons are people being intentionally disrespectful to Damon specifically. Some people may have even went to learn more about them and left as fans! But they aren't going to know all the songs along right at that moment.

IMO, what we could talk about instead is why this seems to be a cycle. Damon does not have to play US festivals! He doesn't have to keep releasing more mainstream music to appeal to the Coachella audience! He's a successful artist, he has some control over this. To me, the narrative isn't, "oh these dumb influencers aren't showing respect." I think we know what will happen and why it happens (and it's not because festival goes aren't ~true music fans, or w/e), and that's cool, I have no issues with him never breaking the cycle because it can be entertaining, but why does he want to keep doing it? And why do his fans get angry over it on his behalf? Those are my questions of the day lmao.

Nope! I was too busy watching all the other amazing sets on the other stages because Saturday was so stacked. You've piqued my interest though 👀...hopefully there's a best moments compilation somewhere on the internet because I can't sit through an entire Blur set I won't do that to myself lmao.

I don't mind it, and I can understand why some might apply it. However, I personally believe that the author's intention for the work should always have a space and be recognized as a valid interpretation. They're the creator, so imo, their word holds some weight, even if they're a shitty person. IMO that's more of a reason to keep their perspective in mind - you don't want to be purposefully blind to or dismissive of the issues in your favorite media, because those issues will exist and make an impact on others even if you completely rewrite the canon in your head. On the other hand, I think your example doesn't have to be all or nothing. Taylor's perspective matters, but if someone attached to the song believing it was a love song, idt that has to change because it meant that to them at the time. Both interpretations matter for different reasons.