​Damon Albarn vows Blur will “never return” to Coachella following crowd's silence during set

Damon Albarn has vowed that Blur will “never return” to Coachella after their performance over the weekend thanks to the festival’s lacklustre crowds.

The Blur frontman appeared frustrated on stage as crowds stayed silent through some of their biggest hits, including ‘90s chart-toppers ‘Girls & Boys’ and ‘Popscene’.

After encouraging the crowd to sing along during a performance of the 1994 hit track ‘Girls & Boys’ - to which there was little response - Albarn frustratedly told the crowd: “You’re never seeing us again, so you might as well fucking sing it!”

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The performance - which marked the group’s first at Coachella since 2013 - was praised on social media, with some fans commenting that the crowds “did not deserve Blur”, dubbing them “embarrassing”.

Blur co-headlined Coachella’s opening weekend on Saturday, April 13, ahead of a main stage set from Tyler, The Creator. The band are due to perform again next weekend on Saturday, April 20 — their performance has not been cancelled at the time of writing.

On stage, Blur brought out the tribal group Torres Martinez Cahuilla Bird Singers to honour the culture of the indigenous tribes from the Mojave Desert area where Coachella is held.

Albarn also commemorated the land on which Coachella is held during their performance, speaking about its host of polo matches outside of the yearly festival.

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During their 13-track set, Blur also performed their hit single ‘Song 2’, which was met with a warmer response. “This song has been good to us,” he told crowds.

Elsewhere during Coachella’s opening weekend, Grimes faced technical difficulties during her 50-minute DJ set on the festival’s new Sahara Stage.

The Canadian musician began experiencing issues around "20 minutes" into the set with tracks playing "double their speed" due to a reported issue with Rekordbox.

Mixmag has contacted representatives of Blur for comment.

Gemma Ross is Mixmag's Assistant Editor, follow her on Twitter