Watch Damon Albarn join London Arab Orchestra to perform Blur’s ‘Out Of Time’ at the Barbican

Damon Albarn recently joined the London Arab Orchestra to perform Blur‘s ‘Out Of Time’ at the Barbican. Watch the footage below.

The show took place last Saturday (June 7), with the performance showcasing “the diversity of Arabic musical heritage”. Conducted by Basel Saleh, the event had previously promised a “special guest”.

Now, footage has emerged of Albarn introducing a live rendition of Blur’s 2003 single ‘Out Of Time’ – which appears on the band’s seventh album ‘Think Tank’.

“This song was written as a plea to America and the United Kingdom to take more responsibility and look inwards at what they were doing in the Middle East,” the singer-songwriter told the audience.

Damon Albarn performs Out of Time with the London Arab Orchestra last night at the Barbican.
video courtesy of Omran Zain pic.twitter.com/bzpNp2DD4R

— Damon Albarn Unofficial (@DamonUnofficial) June 8, 2025

‘Out Of Time’ deals with a civilisation becoming detached from its surroundings. Albarn sings: “And you’ve been so busy lately/ That you haven’t had the time/ To open up your mind/ And watch the world spinning/ Gently out of time.”

It also contains anti-war themes, having been released around the time of the Iraq War. The single’s official music video consists entirely of footage from the 2002 BBC documentary Warship.

Albarn once described the visuals as “the antithesis of the Top Gun image of the American military machine”, adding: “It focuses on the loneliness of somebody working on an aircraft carrier and the fact that a six-month tour of duty means that relationships break down and children go without their parents. That’s the reality of it.”

He also said that ‘Think Tank’ on the whole was about “love and politics”, with the record seeing Blur widen their influences following the departure of Graham Coxon.

Last year, the frontman spoke out about Palestine during a surprise appearance at Glastonbury 2024. “Do you feel that’s an unfair war?” he asked.

NME previously listed ‘Out Of Time’ as the second-best Blur song, writing: “After a four-year hiatus, Britpop’s washed-out conquerors returned with this off-brand slow-burner, the surprise lead single from ‘Think Tank’.

“Draped in moody curtains of Moroccan street-music, ‘Out of Time’ magically thrusts Damon’s romantic resignation into a delicate, geographically displaced tale of modern ennui, melting all but the stoniest hearts.”

Elsewhere, NME said that the track was “up there with their strongest material, one that reads as shaking hands across the divide from Albarn to Coxon during their estrangement”.

Meanwhile, drummer Dave Rowntree recently spoke to NME about what the future holds for Blur after their 2023/24 reunion shows and comeback album, ‘The Ballad Of Darren’.

“There will come a time when we’ll go, ‘Is there anything left to say? Is there another good Blur album to make?’ he told us. “I think that’ll be quite a way before we’re in our dotage and unable to remember the songs when we’re wheeled on in our bath chairs. But then, look at The Stones – they’re still touring, aren’t they?”

As for Albarn, he has just announced some special London gigs with Gorillaz. The group will play their first three albums in full at the Copper Box Arena later this year, as well as performing a “mystery show”.

The stint will mark the close of their House of Kong exhibition at the venue. What’s more, Albarn has teased a new Gorillaz album, and suggested it would be arriving at some point in 2025.

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