Blur members bank £1 each for Olympics closing concert

Blur front man Damon Albarn says the band was paid a cool £300 (CAD $468) to play a rare gig in London's Hyde Park on Sunday night (August 11) as part of the mayor's celebrations marking the closing of the 2012 Olymipc summer games, NME reports.

"Guess how much they're paying us?" Albarn said in an interview with The Sun newspaper. "Three hundred quid. When you divide that between four and add publishing, management and tax, it's down to about a quid."

However, he added that the Britpop mainstays didn't do it for the money. "That's not why you agree to do it," he said. "It gives us a chance to play to a lot of people in London. In the sense of the Olympics it's nice to get involved and celebrate this amazing city. Everyone's feeling pretty good about London. I'm there with that because I love this city."

The band opened the hit-laden show with a rendition of their 1994 hit "Girls & Boys," dedicated the song "Out Of Time" to the people of Syria and the "athletes that were not able to compete because of the current political situation in their country" and closed with new single "Under The Westway," which was written especially for the concert.

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