Blur’s frontman Damon Albarn has never been one to shy away from expressing himself in a frank manner. In a recent interview with UK’s The Sun, Albarn has spoken out about the level of commercialism surrounding the London 2012 Olympics, which began today with an opening ceremony that included Paul McCartney and the Arctic Monkeys.
Damon’s stance against the commercialism of the games might seem like a bit of a contradiction due to Blur’s headlining set at Hyde Park on August 12, which as noted by Ultimate Guitar, coincides with the Olympic closing ceremony and also features New Order and The Specials. Still, Damon insists Blur’s performance is for the punters not the pounds.
“I’m just anti the capitalism of it all… We’re not doing the gig for the corporate side of the Olympics, we’re doing it for the human beings,” Damon explained to The Sun.
“It feels like you’re drowning in commercialism at the moment. It’s depressing. But I am into the table tennis so I would like to get some tickets for that. It would be an inspiration to see it at that level.”
It’s hard to disagree with Damon’s anti-capitalism sentiment. This past Wednesday the ABC aired the first episode of Gruen Sweat. During the program the panelists discussed matters such as ticket holders being ushered through a Westfield shopping centre to attend certain events and the games strict stance against non-associated businesses employing the Olympic Rings as part of their marketing strategy.
