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Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon unveiled a brand new Blur song during a short gig in London last night (February 19).
Titled ‘Under The Westway’, the piano-led track brought the duo’s three-song set to a close at War Child’s pre-Brit Awards fundraiser at O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire.
The song is the first new material to be aired by the band since ‘Fool’s Day’, which was released as a limited edition vinyl and download as part of Record Store Day in 2010.
Introducing the song, Albarn revealed it had been “written up the road from here a few weeks ago” before joking about the gig’s headliner Ed Sheeran. He said: “It’s got a lot of words – for me anyway – but not as many as Ed Sheeran has.”
After being introduced by BBC Radio 1 DJ Edith Bowman, the pair kicked off with ‘He Thought Of Cars’, taken from Blur’s 1995 album ‘The Great Escape’, before playing ‘Strange News From Another Star’, which appeared on the Britpop band’s 1997 self-titled album.
Earlier in the evening, Dry The River and Malian musician Fatoumata Diawara played short sets, while Sheeran’ headline set featured guest spots from Wretch 32, Example and Labrinth.
Blur are set to perform at the Brit Awards tomorrow night (21) where they’re due to pick up this year’s Outstanding Contribution To Music gong. It’ll be the first time all four of the band will have played together onstage since T In The Park in July 2009.