Blur’s career retrospective Midlife comes out in the UK today, and to celebrate that fact–not to mention their upcoming shows around that country–the band has decided to surprise everyone with a show at an undisclosed location in London today. According to Blur’s official site, the first 170 people to show up at the Brixton Academy box office would get tickets to the gig… although the queue for these tickets started at 11 a.m. local time, so they’re probably long gone by now. But!


There were rumors that the show would be at the famed record store Rough Trade, but those rumors were quickly scuttled. But 170 seems like an oddly… precise number of tickets to give out, doesn’t it? Now, I don’t live in the area, but traipsing around Google reveals that there’s one London music venue with both a 170-reveler capacity and an opening on the calendar for 15 June: The Buffalo Bar, which is conveniently located near the Tube and which hosted a tribute to the band earlier this month. Aw, so cute!


Mornin all [Graham Coxon via Drowned In Sound