Damon Albarn and his band Blur are in the U.S. this week for two massive performances, Tuesday (Oct. 20) at The Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles and a follow-up show at Madison Square Garden in New York City Friday (Oct. 23). And with the two big performances, fans can expect surprises. On Tuesday's show, they got one when Late Night With Seth Meyers bandleader, Fred Armisen, took the stage with the Brit rockers for a performance of the bands 1994 hit "Parklife."
The band is on tour for it's 2015 reunion album The Magic Whip, which has the band back to form making great, interesting pop music.
Armisen brought a California twist to the performance, usually performed and recorded by British comedian Phil Daniels. Armisen dropped references to the 101, personal trainers and cold pressed juice during the performance as if it were one of his SNL "The Californians" sketches. The Portlandia creator is no stranger to the stage as he moved about in a white suite and doing his best British punk impersonation.
In an interview with Rolling Stone last week, Albarn said he first approached Mike Myers about singing "Parklife" in the comedian's Austin Powers persona. Sadly, Myers said he is unavailable for the Madison Square Garden performance.
According to Pitchfork, Blur recently announced a new documentary following the band's activities from the studio to the road over the past few years. The film is titled New World Towers and is said to feature footage from live performances, interviews with the various band members and delves further into the creation of The Magic Whip. New World Towers is set for a limited theatrical release in the UK on Dec. 2 with an international release to follow shortly after.
Blur is also set for some feature songs on the Kill Your Friends soundtrack set to release Nov. 6. The movie features Nicholas Hoult as a ruthless A&R manager during the '90s music boom in which Blur flourished alongside its main competitor Oasis, so it would only make sense that both bands were taped for the official soundtrack.
Following the bands two U.S. shows, Albarn plans to get back in the studio and continue work on the new highly anticipated Gorillaz album.
