Blur announced last year that they were reforming as a four piece after Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon finally decided to put the past, and their differences, behind them. They’re now about to embark on a UK arena tour, starting in Manchester on June 26 and continuing at London’s Hyde Park (July 2-3). With those massive gigs, and the prospect of headlining Glastonbury looming, the lads played a warm-up gig tonight (June 13).

This one-off gig was invite-only and purely for friends and family, and, it would seem, at least one NME journalist. It took place at the East Anglian Railway Museum near Colchester, the site of Blur’s first ever gig when they were playing for a birthday party and still known as ‘Seymour’. How times change.

This gig represented the first time Blur had played live together as a four piece in about a decade, so there would have been some excuse for them being rusty. However, by all accounts, they were nothing of the sort, and banged out a two-hour set which included their biggest hits as well as early tracks specially for long-time fans.

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The annual Glastonbury music festival is one of the biggest in the world, both in terms of the number of people who attend, and the worldwide acclaim for the event. The man behind it all? Step forward Michael Eavis, the dairy farmer turned festival supremo.

Eavis, now 73-years-old, started holding the Glastonbury festival in 1971 after being inspired by Led Zeppelin’s performance at the Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music the previous year. It’s since been held every year or two and grown bigger and bolder.

As the founder of the festival, Michael Eavis has made the 2009 TIME 100, a list of the most influential people on Earth. Chris Martin, lead singer of Coldplay, wrote the tribute piece explaining why Eavis deserved his place on the list.

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Blur are back. And the majority of us who remember the glory days of the band are pleased as punch they decided to settle their differences and reform as a four piece. But while they have committed to touring again, what are the chances of some new material?

Blur haven’t made a record together since Think Tank in 2003. It was during the recording of this that Graham Coxon was asked to leave the band, and it took five years for Damon Albarn and him to forget the past and look to the future.

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It’s been a long time coming but at last Blur are back, having officially reformed with all four original members. Okay, so it isn’t like The Beatles reforming (which they’d have a job doing now anyway) but it’s still a brilliant moment for British music and one I want to celebrate.

Talk of a Blur reunion began last October when the four original members met up for lunch and a bit of a catch-up. But that was it, nothing else happened for almost a year before the petty squabbling seemed to raise its ugly head once again. Damon Albarn was reported to have said “Blur is over,” and Graham Coxon responded with a lengthy rant.

By November, the chances of a reunion were looking better, with Albarn stating how it was very possible he’d rejoin the group once again. By the end of November the band were rehearsing with each other as a four piece again for the first time since 2000, but no further plans were announced.

Now, on December 9, 2008, Blur are officially back. Damaon Albarn and Graham Coxon have apparently patched up the differences that lead to the split in the first place, and Alex James and Dave Rowntree are also along for the ride.

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After all the bitterness surrounding Oasis and Jay-Z after they had a little spat earlier in the year, it seems that the two artists have put their differences behind them and teamed up.

Or maybe not. But there is a mixtape featuring them both now available online.

The spat between Oasis and Jay-Z began when Jay-Z was announced as a headliner for Glastonbury 2008. Noel Gallagher stated in no uncertain terms that Jay was wrong for the traditionally more rock festival. Then Jay-Z actually played his set and mocked Gallagher by covering Wonderwall.

The spat carried on when Gallagher criticized Mark Ronson by claiming he only knew two chords on the guitar. Ronson fought back by mentioning Wonderwall and stating that he was “thinking of doing an Oasis/Jay-Z remix album a la ‘The Grey Album’. Potential titles are ‘Champagne Superhova’ or ‘Definitely Jay Z’.”

Ronson may have only been joking, but his remark seems to have started a trio of producers and DJs who go by the name of Cookin’ Soul thinking seriously about doing exactly what Ronson was proposing.

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Mark Ronson is a confident (some would say cocky) young man who doesn’t suffer fools gladly. He’s a super-producer who has not only been one of the main reasons for Amy Winehouse‘ worldwide success but has also released his own album full of cleverly re imagined covers.

So the man knows his stuff, which is why it’s no surprise to see that he is the first person to have reacted to Noel Gallagher’s drunken rant about various musicians and artists the other day. In fact, rather than just defend himself, Ronson went on the attack, and owned Gallagher.

Speaking to Radio One, Gallagher had said this about Ronson:

“He wants to write his own tunes instead of ruining everyone else’s. Mark Ronson needs to learn three chords on the guitar and write a tune.”

Now, writing on his MySpace Blog, Ronson has hit back with some jibes of his own and even brought up the subject of Jay-Z. Gallagher had earlier criticised the decision to have Jay-Z headlining Glastonbury, and Jay-Z had fought back by covering Wonderwall at the start of his festival set.

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Another day, another incident involving Amy Winehouse beating up a fan. The British newspapers are reporting that Winehouse was involved in several incidents during a night out in North London, including hitting a fan, and brawling with paparazzi photographers.

Winehouse appeared at a charity fund-raiser at Dingwalls in Camden where several celebrities and members of the public gathered to generate some money to have The Hawley Arms pub rebuilt. The pub was one of Winehouse’ old haunts before it burnt down to the ground in February.

Amy, dressed in a black string vest and looking absolutely disgusting (as you can see from the photo above), allegedly threw her glass at a photographer, threw her jacket around threateningly, and then slapped a female fan who expressed concern for her state of health.

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I love and hate John Lydon aka Johnny Rotten in equal measures. Yes, he’s over the hill and should have stopped ranting on stage as lead singer of the Sex Pistols a long time ago. And yes, he only says things to cause controversy and buy himself and his band some cheap publicity. But he gives me some great stuff to write about.

His latest little rant comes in an interview with the Daily Record newspaper ahead of his headline act at the Live At Loch Lomond festival this weekend. Acts playing at the festival include Groove Armada, Stereo MCs, Roisin Murphy, The Happy Mondays, Ocean Colour Scene, and Idlewild, but Lydon decided to talk about just two people instead - Pete Doherty and Amy Winehouse.

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Glastonbury 2008 was a bit of a mixed bag - with poor ticket sales meaning there were still places for the festival available on the day it started, but some outstanding performances from artists such as Amy Winehouse, Editors, and The Verve ultimately saving the day. The weather was also okay after an initial downpour.

Then there was the highly controversial set by Jay-Z, not controversial for anything he said or did on stage, but because it was Jay-Z… at Glastonbury. Some people didn’t like the fact that a rapper was given headlining status at a traditionally indie and folk venue.

Now it’s all over, and the festival’s organisers, headed by Michael and Emily Eavis, are already planning for Glastonbury 2009. They have attempted to address the ticketing problem by releasing the bulk of the tickets early - this October to be precise.

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Is Amy Winehouse a singer? I have to ask because I very rarely get to actually write anything about her as a singer these days. Instead, the only reason she’s in the news is due to drinking, taking drugs, refusing to go to rehab, and punching fans.

And here’s another one of those stories. This time, she’s been accused of punching yet another fan, this time in a pub close to her home, and her neighbours are threatening to have her evicted from her house due to the constant partying, and mayhem her presence causes.

First of all we have the alleged punching incident, with salesman Wayne Lindsay claiming that Winehouse punched him three times in an unprovoked attack. Lindsay claims that he was sitting in the Dublin Castle pub in Camden when Winehouse turned towards him and hit him in the face repeatedly.

The Telegraph report him as saying:

“She was wild. She just flipped. It was as if she had voices in her head.”

“Amy stormed out immediately afterwards. I was really angry she thought she could get away with it. But I let it go. I’m not an aggressive person. Amy was in no fit state to put up a fight. She looked out of it. It as as if she was in another land. She looked really unwell and quite frail. She seems unable to control herself.”

However, a spokesperson for the singer claimed it was a case of mistaken identity, with the singer retaliating after she had her bum groped. But even if that is the case, you can’t just attack someone and expect to get away with it as Winehouse seems to have done.

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