The British group haven't released a full record since 2003's 'Think Tank', which topped the UK chart.

The reformed band played at Hong Kong's AsiaWorld-Expo event last night (May 6) and singer Damon Albarn suggested that a new album could be in the offing. He said on stage:

"So we have a week in Hong Kong, and we thought it would be a good time to try and record another record."

Blur have a batch of live dates lined up for later this year, with the closest to home being a show at Dublin's Irish Museum of Modern Art on August 1.

Other dates booked include two shows at Spain's Primavera festival later this month.

The Blur frontman’s three-minute piece, '2Lo Calling,' was premiered during Simon Mayo’s Radio 2 show at London’s Science Museum yesterday.

Alongside iconic sounds from the BBC radio archives and messages from worldwide listeners, the track also features Morse code, the chimes of Big Ben and philosopher Bertrand Russell’s ‘love is wise, hatred is foolish’ quote.

The 44-year-old told BBC News that he was honoured to be involved in such a project:

"There is a special musicality to some of the vocal messages, which I tried to preserve. Added to that, I got to do what I've always wanted - to play along with the pips."

The 'Beetlebum' stars wrote on their Facebook page: "Thank you for waiting... Rock Werchter is about to announce that Blur will headline next July. We're excited; hope to travel in 2013 to play to more of our lovely fans who we haven't seen for a while. Don't know where yet, we'll tell as soon as we do."

The announcement came as a surprise after hints from lead singer, Damon Albarn, in April suggested the Olympic Closing Ceremony would be the last time the band would perform together. In April, Albarn was asked if the group would ever play again after their Hyde Park gig, to which he replied: "No, I don't think so...And I hope that's the truth: that that's how we end it."

Earlier this year, Blur received a BRIT award for outstanding contribution over their 24-year history. They had only reunited in 2009 after taking a ‘hiatus’ following their 2003 tour, despite guitarist Graham Coxon walking out on the band in May 2002 during the recording of their album 'Think Tank'.

Rumours about a possible follow-up to 2003’s ‘Think Tank’ have been circulating ever since the band reformed for a series of comeback gigs in 2009, but the 44-year-old told Q magazine that he’s still unsure whether it would be a good idea:

“It’s very much on my mind. I feel very…torn between a lot of different emotions. I’m undecided about how I feel. The problem is, I’m constantly asked about it and I don’t really know. 

“Genuinely, as a human being – not as Damon Albarn, whatever that is – as just a person. I don’t know how I feel.”

The Britpop icon, whose band will perform at the Olympics closing ceremony gig in Hyde Park next month, went on to add:

“There’s part of me that would love to be able to bring it into our 40s and our sort of family world. But does it belong in that world?

“That’s the other side of it. Do any of us need that? And I have got so many more interesting things to do.”

The recently reunited quartet, who are also headlining the Olympics closing ceremony gig at Hyde Park in August, will play two new tracks, ‘Under The Westway’ and ‘The Puritan,’ in a live stream on the social networking site.

Taking place at @blurofficial at 6.15pm on Monday July 2, the songs will then be available to download, while a limited edition single will be released on August 6.

The UK General Manager of Twitter, Tony Wang, said he was delighted the band have chosen to premiere the songs in such a unique way:

"People all over the world are connecting with the musicians they love on Twitter. Blur is taking this idea even further by debuting two new songs through a live stream and having a direct conversation with their fans on the platform.

"They know what their fans want and are setting the pace for the future of artist engagement online."

The 43-year-old, who released his eighth studio album, ‘A&E,’ earlier this year, told The Independent that he finds it hard to relate to the concept of TV talent shows.

Discussing his own skills as a musician, he said: "I've only got myself to please. When I'm on my own in my front room with a guitar, there's no one going to say to me, 'That's really great' if I play some old rubbish. I do believe in doing things right. Which is why The X Factor and The Voice are so disgraceful to me.

"Perhaps I'm old-fashioned in that sense – that I believe you have to pay your dues. Being a musician is not something you can become overnight."

Coxon, who will perform alongside the rest of Blur at the Olympics’ closing ceremony gig in August, also revealed he finds it difficult to understand why people still ask him about the band’s well-publicised rivalry with Oasis back in the 90s:

"The fact that Noel and Damon are pretty good friends now and I'm supporting Noel on tour in September doesn't seem to enter people's heads. They want to perpetuate something that us lot have forgotten about.

“In the rare moments that it pops up in conversation we're, like, 'What was that about? What a lot of nonsense'."

The 'Song 2' hitmakers confirmed that they will play 4 gigs in August before they take the stage at London's Hyde Park to celebrate the closing ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games. Blur's bass player, Alex James, said of the shows:

"Every one of these shows will be very special and we can't wait to get cracking."

They will play Margate's Winter Gardens venue on August 1, followed by 2 nights at the Wolverhampton Civic Hall on August 5 and 6 before rounding off the mini-tour with a live set at the Plymouth Pavilions on August 7.

Their Hyde Park concert will take place on August 12 and tickets for Blur's newly announced intimate dates will go on sale at 9am on Friday, May 18 for £35.

The 44-year-old musician told the Guardian that the Britpop band are unlikely to record any more material after being asked about their new track, ‘Under The Westway.’

He said: "We recorded it live. One take. It's the first Blur song where it's been one take, because previously I never finished the lyrics before we recorded.

"This time, I'd done that, so we were actually able to perform it. Which is quite nice, because I don't really see any more recordings after this. So it's nice to have finally done one song where we did it properly."

The Colchester-born star then suggested that Blur, who picked up the Outstanding Contribution to Music at this year’s BRIT Awards, will play their last ever show at their Olympics Hyde Park gig on August 12:

"I'll give it 100%, like I did last time. And that's it. And I hope that's the truth: that that's how we end it."

Albarn also claimed that there are no plans to revive the Gorillaz project following creative disagreements with Jamie Hewlett over 2010’s Plastic Beach, of which Albarn said: "That sounds very juvenile, doesn't it? But being juvenile about it, it happens. It's a shame."

Adele was up on the stage at the event in February to collect the Mastercard Album of the Year award, but host James Corden had to quickly move her on to make way for a live performance from Blur.

The snub - and Adele's resultant middle finger - became big news, but Alex James told BBC Breakfast that the band were unaware what was going on at the time. He said:

"That's live telly. I don't think it overshadowed anything. We were up there backstage and didn't know what was happening until afterwards. I think Adele is amazing and has a fantastic career in front of her."

Alex James Presents Harvest took place last September and saw KT Tunstall and the Feeling play whilst chefs such as Hugh Feranley-Whittingstall and Yaotam Ottolenghi give cookery demonstations.

However two days after the event it emerged that the organisers, Big Wheel Promotions were almost £1m in debt.

James said: "The fact that people didn't get paid really, really upset me but I had to follow legal procedures and unfortunately that meant not talking about it.

Although I was simply giving my land for the festival, my major concern was making sure that, as I was seen as the host, everybody involved was paid on time. However, that was not the case and many people that worked on the event, including a local primary school, ended up out of pocket.

James himself was only partly paid upfront, James said: 

"It wasn't about the money I lost. It's just a mess. It was easily the worst business deal I've ever done. I'm gutted that some people didn't get paid."

More than 7,000 people attended each day, including Jeremy Clarkson David Cameron (see below).

The exciting event is set to take place on August 12 at London's Hyde Park and will also feature live sets from The Specials and New Order. 

The band took to their official Twitter account in the early hours of this morning (February 21) to announce the news to their fans and wrote:

"Blur have accepted the invite to headline the Olympics Closing Ceremony Celebration Concert in Hyde Park on 12th August."

In addition to headlining the Closing Ceremony's concert, Blur will take the stage at tonight's BRIT Awards where they will also receive the Outstanding Contribution prize. 

The recently reformed Britpop outfit will perform a medley of their biggest hits after receiving the Outstanding Contribution to British Music award, but speaking to The Sun, host James Corden revealed they have been given more playing time than previous recipients including Paul McCartney and Elton John:

The funnyman, who is presenting for the second consecutive year, said: “Blur will perform for 11 minutes at the end of the show - more than anyone has been given before for the Outstanding Contribution To Music Award.”

Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon played three songs together at last night’s War Child pre-Brit Awards fund-raiser, including brand new song ‘Under The Westway,’ but tomorrow’s ceremony at the 02 Arena will be the first time Blur have performed as a four-piece since their headline slot at 2009’s T In The Park.  

The duo, who were appearing at the War Child’s pre-Brit Awards fundraiser at Shepherd’s Bush Empire, performed a piano-led song entitled ‘Under The Westway,’ during a brief set which also included ‘He Thought Of Cars’ (from 1995’s The Great Escape) and ‘Strange News From Another Star’ (from 1997’s self-titled LP).

After introducing the song, Albarn revealed that it was "written up the road from here a few weeks ago" before adding: “It's got a lot of words - for me anyway - but not as many as Ed Sheeran has,” in a reference to the flame-haired singer-songwriter, who headlined the show.

It’s the band’s first new song to be aired since 'Fool’s Day,' which was released as a limited edition vinyl/download on Record Store Day in 2010, and comes just two days before the four-piece are due to perform at the BRITs, where they will receive the Outstanding Contribution To Music award. 

Coxon spoke to the Daily Record ahead of their appearance at the upcoming BRIT Awards later this month, where the Britpoppers will receive an Outstanding Contribution gong.

The band reunited for a number of shows in 2009 after a period of laying dormant, with Coxon reckoning it was a "healing experience" for all - and he has now promised more Blur recordings in the future. He said:

"It's pretty nice to be getting the BRIT award. We haven't planned the rehearsals yet, but there will definitely be another Blur album. 2009 was an amazing healing experience for us. We were really swept away with it and got a lot out of our systems. We realised how much we still had in common, that we are good friends, that we are brothers. We're always going to meet up and want to play things. We do like recording. Eventually, even if things aren't around the corner, Blur will do more recordings together. We all love each other and still like making music so that's not a bad start."

The cheese-making bassist told XFM that the band will reunite for a special performance at the 2012 BRIT Awards to celebrate winning the 2012 Outstanding Contribution prize:

"We're going to play, which is brilliant, it's like putting the Blues Brothers back together."

Before Blur had found out that they won the award, James revealed their intentions to meet up for a "Christmas drink" and explained to the NME that new music was possibly on the horizon:

"We're getting together for a Christmas drink next week which is nice. We still see each other all the time, more since we were all living out of a suitcase. We'll probably record again."