Only at the Shockwaves NME Awards could Blur reunite on the same night Pete Doherty won the award for “Best Solo Artist.” Yes, in between a clusterfuck of awards, which included but was not limited to “Godlike Genius,” “Best Dancefloor Filler,” and “Best Band Blog,” the British music tabloid managed to reunite Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon during last night’s NME Awards in London.
And get this…for the duo’s first on stage collaboration together in over a decade, it wasn’t half bad. Sure, it would have been nice to include Alex James, Dave Rowntre, and an electric guitar along for the ride, but for what it was, the striped down version of “This Is A Low” that Albarn and Coxon offered certainly proved compelling, and only added to the anticipation of what will be a full-fledged reunion this summer.
BBC apparently professionally recorded the whole thing, but as of now are only offering a short 20 second tease. So, you’ll have to make do with a fan made, non-embeddable clip of the performance in the meantime.
As mentioned, the entire band will officially reunite later this summer for performances at Manchester’s MEN Arena on June 26th and London’s Hyde Park on July 2nd and 3rd. The band is also expected to join Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band as headliners for this year’s Glastonbury Music Festival.
Following their performance last night, Albarn and Coxon spoke with NME. Check out the video, along with a full list of last night’s NME Awards winners, below…
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Godlike Genius: The Cure
Best British Band: Oasis supported by Shockwaves
Best International Band: The Killers supported by 4music
Best Solo Artist: Pete Doherty
Best New Band: MGMT supported by Bench
Best Live Band: Muse supported by Red Stripe
Best Album: Kings Of Leon ‘Only By The Night’ supported by HMV
Outstanding Contribution To British Music: Elbow
Best Track: MGMT ‘Time To Pretend’ supported by NME Radio
Best Video: Last Shadow Puppets ‘My Mistakes Were Made For You’ supported by NME TV
Best Live Event: Glastonbury 2008
Best TV: ‘The Mighty Boosh’
Phillip Hall Radar Award: The Big Pink
Best Dancefloor Filler: Dizzee Rascal featuring Calvin Harris and Chrome – ‘Dance Wiv Me’
Best DVD: Arctic Monkeys – ‘Live At The Apollo’
Best Band Blog: Oasis’ Noel Gallagher
Best Venue: London Astoria
Best Album Artwork Muse ‘HAARP’
Hero Of The Year: Barack Obama
Villain Of The Year: George W Bush
Best Dressed: Alexa Chung
Worst Dressed: Amy Winehouse
Worst Album: The Jonas Brothers – ‘A Little Bit Longer’
Worst Band: the Jonas Brothers
Sexiest Male: Muse’s Matt Bellamy
Sexiest Female: Paramore’s Hayley Williams
Best Website: YouTube
