Damon Albarn and co are forced to pull out of their headline slot at a music festival in France as bandmate Dave Rowntree needs a break after sustaining a knee injury.
- July 4, 2023
AceShowbiz - Blur have called off a headline slot at France's Festival Beauregard this week due to an injury to Dave Rowntree. The "Charmless Man" hitmakers were due to perform at the music festival in Chateau de Beauregard on Thursday, July 6, but the drummer suffered a knee injury last weekend, just days ahead of their Wembley Stadium shows on Saturday, July 8 and Sunday, July 9.
In a translation from French, a post on the Festival Beauregard Twitter account read, "The bad news has just fallen, Blur will not be able to perform their concert in Beauregard. Dave Rowntree, the drummer, was injured this weekend and must rest for future shows"
Royal Blood will take Blur's place at the French festival.
At the time of writing, the "Girls and Boys" group - also made up of Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon, and Alex James - are yet to comment on the injury or the festival date.
Alex recently told how he cried when Blur - whose last headline shows came in 2015 - sold out Wembley Stadium in two minutes. He told Red magazine, "You never really know until you put a show on sale if anyone is interested. It's really emotional. I'm absolutely delighted that it's all back on and I love them all dearly like brothers."
When he's not with the band, Alex is kept busy on the farm he lives on with wife Claire and their five children, but he admitted the adjustment between the two very different lifestyles can be tricky.
He laughed, "The last time I went away, I dropped the kids at school and flew to Mexico City, where there were thousands of people waiting for us at the airport and hotel. When we got to the venue - a stadium - it was huge. But afterwards, you get home and you have to wash up and the kids are like, 'Dad, stop being a w*****.' "
