Alex James to move Big Feastival to South America as he plots one other Blur reunion
Blur’s floppy haired bassist Alex James has become a British summer institution thanks to his Big Feastival shindig, but it could be about to spread its wings further afield.
Since 2012 Alex has welcomed 25,000 punters every August onto his Oxfordshire farm to experience a unique combination of live music, cookery and plenty more in-between with a village fete vibe. Now he’s ready to transport the concept into a foreign setting.
“I’d love to try and take it somewhere else,” Alex told the Star. “We nearly went to Peru. There was a promoter interested which would be amazing because Peru’s got crazy, crazy, crazy food.
Living on a farm is like ‘living in a machines’ says Alex(Image: Getty Images)
“But then the next thing I heard he was in prison. But no, I mean, the idea of doing great food, great music together, you know, there’s a marriage made in heaven for all sorts of different places.”
For now he’s fully focused on Oxfordshire and welcoming The Streets and Bastille to his manor, along with chef master classes from Anna Haugh and Simon Rogan.
He founded The Big Feastival in 2011 with TV chef Jamie Oliver launching it on Clapham Common in London before moving permanently to the Cotswolds. It’s become a place where Alex can catch up with his celebrity mates.
“Graham (Coxon) came down last year to play a set,” the 57-year-old says of his Blur bandmate. ”And Keith Allen who I hadn’t seen for a while.
“It’s always nice to see Peter Crouch and The Beckhams are just down the road in the Cotswolds. I crossed David Beckham at Burford roundabout a few weeks ago!”
Farm life!(Image: Getty Images)
James’ farm is also just down the road from a certain Jeremy Clarkson, who’s become big news in farming himself. Has James been tempted to make their own docu-series to rival Clarkson’s Farm?
“I don’t know if I could give him a run for his money, when it coms top making television programmes he’s a master,” laughs Alex. “I mean, I love that he’s got a series going on at his farm right now. He’s like next door but one so the traffic’s at a standstill in Chipping Norton. No one can get here on time and it’s all down to him.”
Alex James bought his 200-acre farm in Kingham, Oxfordshire in 2003 while he and his wife, Claire, were “on our honeymoon” he chuckles. Back then it caused a stir and Alex did a bit of self promotion to get his cheese business up and running: “I wrote a weekly column about my transformation from Metropolitan, nocturnal, hellraiser, to kind of quiet country gentlemen.
Jeremy Clarkson is Alex’s neighbour and a more successful TV farmer(Image: PA)
“I didn’t have Jeremy Clarkson’s budgets, but you know, it was actually what enabled me to reinvent myself writing about my farming disasters.
“Farms are fascinating places because they’re a machine it’s like living in a machine. So there is always something going wrong, something runs away, something broken, something on fire, something funny happening, you know. “
Whenever it all gets too much he can run off on tour with his latest venture – Britpop classical or of course his first love, Blur. Two years ago the quartet wowed the nation with a reunion tour and it’s left them in a good place, and he’s hopeful for more.
“We still send each other nice messages,” Alex beams. “We’re in touch. I think because it was a long time between the last tour and the Ballad Of Darren album – eight years. Even when we actually split up, it didn’t take eight years to get back together. I think it took us all by surprise.
Another Blur reunion is on the cards reckons Alex(Image: Redferns)
“It’s clear in that time the band had found a whole new audience. I think we were all staggered, and it was the best tour we’ve ever done, best shows we’ve ever done. First time we’ve ever got to the end without at least one of the band saying ‘never again’. Do you know, do you know what I mean?
“We’re so lucky to have all those years of playing together. It’s a gift and every time we get back together there’s genuinely magic to it.
“We wrote a song at our first rehearsal that we still play today. It’s crazy. There was like instant, instant chemistry there, which has never, never gone away so long may it continue.”
Instead of Wembley, thousands of Girls and Boys will descend on Alex’s land so he must’ve seen the best and worst of what the Great British public can do when armed with a tent and a packet of wet wipes. Any grizzly findings afterwards?
This is a high – Blur winning awards agains(Image: Dave Benett/Getty Images)
He winces but then stops himself from saying what he wants to say: “You know, there’s always the old pair of knickers in the woods. But what the hell, what are you going to do?”
The Big Feastival runs from Friday, August 28 to Sunday, August 30 – visit www.bigfeastival.com for more info.
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