By Rachael Grealish

Blur has announced four new tour dates, including one in the north of England ahead of their Wembley performances in the Summer.

The band’s first-ever Wembley Stadium shows are set to take place on Saturday, July 8 and Sunday 9, as Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon, Alex James and Dave Rowntree come together again to perform their iconic and much-loved songs.

With the Saturday show already sold out the band has confirmed four warm-up dates in May.

• 19 May – Colchester
• 21 May – Eastbourne
• 26 May – Wolverhampton
• 28 May – Newcastle

Currently, fans can sign up for a pre-sale access code for the four May performances by heading to the band’s site and signing up for their mailing list.

Tickets will go on General Sale at 10am BST on Friday, April 28, and there will be a maximum of 2 tickets available per show for each customer.

Along with the news of the warm-up dates it was confirmed today, April 25, Paul Weller, as well as The Selecter and Snooker Champion-turned-DJ Steve Davis will join the line-up for Blur’s second Wembley performance on July 9.

Since announcing their arrival with debut album Leisure in 1991, Blur went on to revolutionise the sound of English popular music with five successive UK #1 albums Parklife (1994), The Great Escape (1995), Blur (1997), 13 (1999) and Think Tank (2003) and a string of Top 10 singles, including two No 1s with Country House and Beetlebum, helping to propel the band to mass popularity at home and abroad.

One of the biggest British bands of the last three decades, Blur have released eight studio albums and collected ten NME Awards, six Q Awards, five BRIT Awards and an Ivor Novello Award, and played live to thousands of devoted fans across the globe. The band’s most recent album, The Magic Whip was released in 2015.