I spoke with fans at these shows who knew Albarn as “the guy from Blur, with that great new solo album,” but didn’t realize he’d also be playing “El Manana” that night. Of course, just because you might be familiar with “Feel Good Inc.” or “Clint Eastwood” doesn’t mean you know Albarn himself - part of the conceit of Gorillaz, originally, was that they were an invented cartoon band. If you were an indie/alternative fan in ’90s America, Blur would’ve been this exotic safe haven if mainstream alt-rock wasn’t your thing, but if you’re the same age as those British kids who lived and breathed Britpop, chances are a lot of your friends might not know about Blur but are very, very familiar with the pop hits Gorillaz had through the ’00s. For a British person in their early twenties, Britpop was ubiquitous as they were growing up - there’s no way you didn’t know who Blur was, even if they were already defunct by the time you were in your early teens and perhaps exploring music for the first time. One of the obvious divides is nationality, but the crucial qualifier is age. Over the course of the last three months, I’ve seen Damon Albarn perform four times, and a certain quality of his career was boldly underlined: there are great disparities between who knows him, where they know him from, and where they know him from without realizing it.
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