My Book: Black Book: The Live History of Blur | Fab Forum | The Beatles Bible

It sure was! I started collecting their live recordings in 1997 and in 2003 I started cataloguing everything just to make a database for myself, but it kept growing and growing so I decided to make it into a full-blown book, which was finally published in 2009. I literally started working on the collecting, revising, correcting, and rearranging for the 2nd edition the same week the 1st edition was published, so that took an additional 3 years. It’s definitely a labor of love…I didn’t get paid one cent to do any of this!

meanmistermustard said
Thats incredible and a real labour of love. So whats you’re favourite live show and why? Have Blur improved as a band over time when playing live; some artists find it a slog to keep going live but have to for finance and fanbase or just keep doing the same type of live performance all the time. They might change the odd song but the actual gig is incredibly similar to the other 99 recently.

Did you get any input/feedback from the band before, during or after?

I will admit i know little of Blur.

I’ve heard so many shows that’s it’s hard to tell The one that immediately springs to mind is Wembley Arena, December 9, 1997. The sound quality is amazing but beyond that, the playing is blistering, the mood onstage and in the crowd is magical, and the set list is great. It also was the end of the tour supporting my favorite album of theirs (the self-titled one in 1997, conicidentally an album that is compared with the White Album in terms of scope, even though the recording sessions were much more harmonious than the 1968 sessions!).

They were actually really good from the beginning in terms of musicianship but played drunk a lot and often didn’t harness their manic energy. They certainly matured…by 1997 they were masters of the craft, both in terms of playing, pacing, and presentation. Typically the sets stayed relatively constant throughout a tour, but there are lots of instances of weird covers or rare times they play a deep album cut or b-side that is usually not played.

I have had contact with the band and they’re aware of both books…dunno if they like them but I haven’t heard anything negative, so that’s good A close friend of mine is in the inner camp so I get lots of inside info and from what I’ve heard, they’re flattered and enjoy it.

No idea, you’re right that live it’s more of a “WAAHHOOO!” That’s one song where not a single live version comes close to the studio version. Every band has songs like that and that’s one of Blur’s.