What The Battle gets right and wrong about Blur v Oasis

"At this point, it’s Israel/Palestine. Rangers/Celtic. No one remembers how it got started. All they know is, ‘I like this team and I don’t like that team.’ The whole country’s gone fucking mad. It’s what happens in a civil war – everyone starts thinking with the blood." In a new play simply titled The Battle, those words are spoken by a fictionalised Damon Albarn as he leads Blur into a contest with Oasis for a summer No 1 and the de facto kingship of Britpop.

The piece, by John Niven, played at Birmingham Rep ahead of a move to Manchester. Class undercurrents run through Niven’s script. Comparisons with the Beatles and Rolling Stones were everywhere at the time, and headlines framed the bands as "Working-class heroes" versus "art-school trendies", or pitted "Clean-cut middle-class southern boys" against "Rebellious working-class northern lads".

Sharp, comic moments underline the divide: Liam is told he should stay in his social lane—"Her and Damon, right, they’ve got degrees and that.

blur, oasis, damon albarn, liam, britpop, john niven, the battle, birmingham rep, manchester, class divide