Looking forward to 2011

A look forward to some of the things Damon and Jamie may be or are definitely involved with in 2011:-

John Dee opera
An Opera (official title not yet revealed) about the life of the historical figure John Dee with Damon providing the music and Jamie the visual design, is set to premiere at the Manchester International Festival in the UK, which takes place from 30 June – 17 July 2011. Dates, venue and further information are due to be announced in March along with some other Manchester International Festival information. Rufus Norris will direct the production. The Opera is also confirmed to have a run at the Olympics arts festival in 2012 in London.

The Boy In The Oak
Damon will be providing the score to the short film ‘The Boy In The Oak’. The film is based on a book of the same name by his sister Jessica Albarn. The film is due to begin screening at festivals in Spring 2011 and it could see a tv showing later. Actor Jude Law provides narration. An early report of Damon’s involvement was here but the information had leaked a couple of months previously.

Big Audio Dynamite
Thirdly, the band Big Audio Dynamite (info on Wikipedia here) are set to reform with the original lineup for shows and a new album. The strong possibility of a reformation was first mentioned by member Don Letts in early 2010 but since then things have apparently moved on further. Not everything is finalised but Jamie is set to contribute graphics to the project / album, and Damon will likely contribute some vocals to the album. (this may be, although it’s not confirmed, what Jamie meant when he referred to ‘another band’ he would work on next year, in the New Zealand 3News tv interview).

Summer expedition to The Congo
In association with the charity Oxfam, Damon and Jamie will go to the Congo region of Africa and as part of their visit will take creative inspiration for an artistic project (or may possibly create some art on the trip). (thanks catch_life!)

Blur
Damon previously said in November that Blur might do “something in January, something small, no career-based world domination ideas”. Other sources (The Sun, and guitarist Graham Coxon) have also indicated that Blur will go back into the studio in 2011 but it’s not clear how extensive the sessions will be. Damon previously in 2010 indicated that he would prefer to record singles’ worth of material at a time and even put material out gradually.

Flea/Tony Allen/Damon record
Damon has also been working on a record with Flea (from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers) and drummer Tony Allen since at least 2009 (possibly 2008) which he recently said is ‘three quarters’ finished. Especially with Flea returning to the Red Hot Chilli Peppers live and studio duties it’s not known if this album will see release in 2011.

Gorillaz
A physical release of The Fall is the only confirmed Gorillaz event for 2011 and at the moment we have no further information at all about any Gorillaz plans for 2011 but we will try to bring you confirmation either way in the near future.