Some might say: Oasis won the battle; Blur won the war

The reunion tour is a good time to reflect on the legacy of the Britpop bands. And there's a clear winner

- Polly Dunbar

As Oasis made their long-awaited return to Manchester for the first of five live shows at the city's Heaton Park, a very different concert, both in sound and spirit, was taking place in Barcelona. At the Parc del Forum's Festival Cruilla, Damon Albarn – Blur frontman and former arch nemesis of the Gallagher brothers – took to the stage with his passion project Africa Express, the groundbreaking cross-cultural musical collaboration he co-founded 20 years ago.

Joining him were 50 artists from four continents, including South African musician and dancer Moonchild Sanelly, Mexican singer Luisa Almaguer and Jupiter & Okwess, a five-piece Congolese funk band led by legendary musician Jupiter Bokondji.

The same day, Africa Express celebrated the release of their new album, a fusion of Latin pop, hip hop, reggaeton and traditional African sounds recorded at last year’s Bahidora Festival in Mexico.

Friday’s performance was the final stop on a five-date tour that began on 5 July in Denmark. For Albarn, it represented a small fraction of his packed 2025 schedule, which began with him debuting a new electro-opera, The Magic Flute II: La Malediction, in Paris. Based on the sequel Goethe wrote to Mozart’s original in 1807, but which was never set to music, the endeavour was nothing if not wildly ambitious.

He has also been working on a new record from Gorillaz, the virtual band he shares with the artist Jamie Hewlett, due to be released next year. Encompassing four different languages, it will be the group’s first album since Cracker Island in 2023, the same year Blur reformed and released their ninth album, The Ballad of Darren.