ᴏɴᴇ ʟᴀꜱᴛ ᴋɪꜱꜱ, ᴛʜɪꜱ ᴋɪꜱꜱ ꜰᴏʀ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡʜᴏʟᴇ ᴡᴏʀʟᴅ.

ᴡᴇᴍʙʟᴇʏ, ʏᴏᴜ ɢᴀᴠᴇ ᴜꜱ ᴇᴠᴇʀʏᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴀɴᴅ ᴡᴇ ꜰᴇʟᴛ ɪᴛ. ᴛʜᴀɴᴋ ʏᴏᴜ ꜰᴏʀ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴘᴀꜱꜱɪᴏɴ, ᴇɴᴇʀɢʏ, ᴀɴᴅ ꜱᴡᴇᴀᴛ. pic.twitter.com/pP8rE75a0Q

— ENTER SHIKARI (@ENTERSHIKARI) February 18, 2024

The St Albans based band started their captivating speech by stating: “We cannot just enjoy this moment without acknowledging the fact that there are children being blown to pieces by a government and a country that has been completely lost in nationalistic and religious fervour.”

Continuing to express his support of Palestine, Reynolds said: “with the activists and actionists up and down the country who have been blocking and targeting the Israeli weapons manufacturing factories. Our country is very complicit in this atrocity, and supports those who are targeting the investment banks that are effectively bankrolling genocide. We have been yelling ‘Free Gaza’, ‘Free Palestine’ for 15 years. I just hope to God that there is still a Gaza and a Palestine left when this fucking nightmare ends. So let us be grateful for tonight, we have safety. We have community, we have love, we have human connection. Let us treasure this feeling that we all have tonight.”

The current death toll of Palestinians in Gaza stands at 28,775, with around 1,410 Israelis killed and around 100 Israeli hostages still remaining in Hamas captivity after the October 7 attacks. Israel is currently being urged by many Palestinian supporters not to send ground forces into Rafah on the Egyptian border, where many of the strip’s citizens are now living after areas closer to their homes became engulfed by fighting. Around 1.5million people are living in Rafah, among fears that there are few to no other places for Palestinians to seek refuge. The BBC reported “tens of thousands” gathered in London yesterday for pro-Palestine rallies.

This is not the first time the British rockers have spoken out about the horrors of war and their distaste for modern day worldwide conflicts. Their 2012 song Stalemate depicts this, with lyrics such as “Money is made when bombs are dropping in Afghanistan, and when phosphorous falls in Palestine.” The four-piece also signed an open letter for ceasefire in November of last year, alongside other artists such as Architects and The Last Dinner Party.

The Britpop icon band, Blur, have decided to greet us once again. The band have announced a collection of four small gig dates for the run up to their official world tour, set to kick off in June.

Come as they may, the group’s fans will be delighted to get in touch with them again. This tour will mark their first headlining gigs since their most recent release of The Magic Whip back in 2015. There has been no trace of fresh sound since then, with only a live album release Live At The BBC in 2019 and the “Blur (25th Anniversary Sampler)” in 2022.

As a warm up for the big journey, they will be playing four shows in May around the UK. The first show will take place at Colchester Art Centre – a 300 head venue capacity – on the Friday, 19th of May. Blur’s frontman, Damon Albarn, is from Colchester, where he met guitarist Graham Coxon when studying at Stanway School.

The following gig is to take place on the 21st May at the Winter Gardens in Eastbourne, a slightly larger venue than the first intimate one. On the 26th of May they will be stopping at Wolverhampton to play at The Halls to then finish in Newcastle on the 28th of May where they will be performing at the O2 City Hall.

After the offering of this string of intimacy, the band finally loom into reality. On the 1st of June they land their first big show in Barcelona at the renowned Primavera Sound Festival. As from here they will be hopping around the world until the end of August. Visiting countries such as Ireland, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, France, Italy, Belgium, Norway, Sweden, Finland and, to finish off, Japan.

In Japan they will play in Tokyo at Summer Sonic 2023 on the 19th of August and will be finally tying up their horses in Osaka at the Maishima Sonic Park on the 20th of August.

The tour will featured by special guests on stage. The first show is to be accompanied by the UK rapper Slowthai, the British musician known as Self Esteem and the indie duo from London, Jockstrap. The following day they are to be joined on stage at Wembley by rock star Paul Weller as well as the ska revival duo from Coventry, The Selector.

Tickets for the UK shows in May will be available to buy this Friday, 28th of April. Click here for access.

UK Tour Dates:

19/05/2023 – Colchester Art Centre – Colchester
21/05 – Winter Gardens – Eastbourne
26/05 – The Halls – Wolverhampton
28/05 – O2 City Hall – Newcastle
08/07/ – Wembley – London
09/07 – Wembley – London