The hidden gem Essex railway museum where Blur played their first ever gig

British band Blur (left to right) Graham Coxon, Alex James, Damon Albarn and Dave Rowntree
-Credit: (Image: PA)


Essex has bred and raised celebs from all different career paths, from actors and singers to scientists and journalists. Across the county, it's pretty common knowledge that Britpop legends Blur hail from Colchester.

The "Girls and Boys" singers stayed true to their Essex roots, and played many gigs in the county. However, what is far less known is the band's connection with an Essex railway museum, where they played their first gig nearly 40 years ago.

The band once played at East Anglian Railway Museum, in Wakes Colne, near Colchester. Damon Albarn and the rest of the band played their first-ever concert in the Goods Shed in 1988- when they were then known as Seymour.

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The band performed in the museum’s Goods Shed in 1988 to an audience of around 150 people. They came back to perform over 20 years later in 2009, where they played in the same location to a similar sized crowd.

In a 1998 interview with Select magazine, lead singer Damon Albarn said: “It was great. It was perfect. I felt, ‘This is something.’ It was literally just an old train shed in this low key museum that we hired out. The audience sat in a tube train carriage. We used my Dad’s old strobe light from the ’60s.”

The Goods Shed is the museum’s centrepiece and dates back to Victorian times. It has been restored and now is full of railway memorabilia, as well as being a popular venue for private events, functions, corporate entertainment and even wedding receptions.

Today, the East Anglian Railway Museum plays an important role in conserving Essex’s railway heritage. It began as the Stour Valley Railway Preservation Society and now calls itself a “living archive”.

It houses a range of old locomotives and offering train rides over a short demonstration track. But isn't it funny how it contributes to history in more than one way?

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