Blur rocked Hyde Park Angela Lubrano

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Rating: 5/5

THE Brit Pop tag will follow Blur to the grave, which is a shame because they are one of the best bands of the past 20 years, be it British, Belgian or Bolivian.

Their comeback is a celebration of what the band are about: follow the bouncing ball sing-a-longs, eye-misting ballads and indie thrashers. All present and correct at their triumphant return to London last night.

We've had teaser gigs in record stores, Colchester and, of course, there was something small called Glastonbury – but all were warm-ups for the main event in Hyde Park.

The set was exactly the same as Glasto but they nailed it, performing a slew of songs from their second and arguably best album Modern Life Is Rubbish, including Chemical World, For Tomorrow and Sunday Sunday, complete with Jane Fonda keep fit audience participation.

Breakthrough album Parklife was also fully attended to with outings of classics like Boys And Girls and Jubilee, each better than the last. Damon stopped proceedings to tell the crowd he had written the title track right here in Hyde Park before Phil Daniels bounded on for a furious rendition of the iconic hit.

Damon was pleasantly mundane with his onstage natter: “Is all this adequate?” he asked, to a roar of approval. Then a bit later, he enquired: “How are you all doing with the heat?” He referred to London as “this amazing mixed up city", and admitted “I honestly don’t know how we’ll repeat this tomorrow".

Crooning along with To The End as the sun went down was one of the most special moments of the year so far. Let’s see what Oasis pull out of the bag for their Wembley Stadium show next week. I can’t believe I’m writing this, but the Brit Pop battle is back on.

Blur , until 3 July, 7pm, Hyde Park, W2 2UH