Graham Coxon live at the Sheffield Leadmill
11 July 2000
Reviewed by Helen Wood

A dark, old mill in the corner of Sheffield: this was a far cry from the bright lights of Wembley Arena where I had last witnessed the talents of Mr. Graham Coxon. This was to be a gig of a very different kind...

At last it was time. The four faces tumbled from the back stage and Mr Coxon himself took up the position of lead singer / guitarist centre stage. Ironic cries of "Da-mon, Da-mon" could be heard and were greeted with a smile from our hero.

Kicking off with the delicately raw strains of That's All I Wanna Do assured the audience that this painfully shy guitarist from Blur does have the capability to take on the audience single-handedly. The Golden D has shown a braver side to Graham vocally and lyrically than The Sky... had, and this was evident tonight in his performance. Frequent glances to fellow stage dwellers (Dave in particular) were needed to reassure GC that all was well, but on the whole we were seeing a side of Graham that was far more confident than usual, and quite comfortable in his role as "Front Man". He engaged in a little banter with the audience, responding to shouts of "Oochy Woochy" with a "Yeah Baby".

With The Golden D's collection of very different styles, all different from Blur's latest work, it will be interesting to see how this progression will affect the next offerings from the band as a whole. A truly great performance from Toby, Rod, Dave and Graham. I can't wait for the next.

Text and picture by Helen Wood
Published in the Blur Fan Club magazine Blurb