Tour news: Blur heads Down Under

Blur (from left) Dave Rowntree, Alex James, Graham Coxon, Damon Albarn.

Blur has been announced as a headline act at Australian music festival Splendour in the Grass, increasing the chances of the reunited Britpop band heading to New Zealand.

In an interview with TimeOut tomorrow, band bassist Alex James says: "We owe it to you guys to get ourselves down there."

Blur and Florence + The Machine will headline Splendour in Byron Bay on July 24-26.

Other northern hemisphere acts confirmed for the festival include Ryan Adams and Mark Ronson.

Blur pulled out of the 2013 Big Day Out, disappointing many Kiwi fans who had not seen the band in Auckland since 1997.

"It's the biggest regret of my professional career, that," says James about quitting the BDO.

James has other reasons for wanting to return to NZ - one which suggests the band might have to head to the deep south for shows.

"The cheese roll is my all-time favourite snack. Do you know you can't get them anywhere else in the world? That is why I'm coming to New Zealand. I'm going to make it happen."

The band's reunion album The Magic Whip is due out this week.

* The full James interview about the making of the new album - and his enthusiasm for NZ cheese -appears in tomorrow's issue of TimeOut.

- nzherald.co.nz