Today marks the 20th anniversary of Blur’s landmark Parklife album, and though frontman Damon Albarn is currently busy releasing his debut solo record, the date might not be entirely lost on him. Cockney duo the Gents were celebrating St George’s Day earlier in the week at an East London pub, when Albarn joined them on-stage for a blast back to 1994.
Pub life!
However Blur frontman Damon Albarn – who happened to be there at the time – apparently couldn’t resist taking to the stage at the Red Lion in Leytonstone to perform an impromptu rendition of “Parklife” with the pair.
And the performance – which saw the Everyday Robots singer reprising the track’s infamous Cockney rap – certainly seemed to be a hit with both audience and the band, whose regular repertoire consists of cockney-tinged renditions of pop classics.
“We were doing a St George’s Day performance gig in a boozer in Leytonstone and he approached us and asked us if we fancied doing a song together, which of course we said yes to!” band member Kristian Cockburn told Metro Online.
“We played Parklife and the whole pub joined in with the choruses – brilliant fun! Damon was really sound and we had a drink together afterwards.’
Between this, all the Britpop nostalgia washing up on all shores, and the Essex police car blaring KRS-One as its siren, we’re really missing England right now.
Oh, and we here in the States could expect some real Albarn-related news very soon — as early as next week.
Stay tuned. In the meantime…