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Spalife: Blur rocker Alex James gets a mani and pedi before awards ceremonies

Blur rocker Alex James likes to get a manicure, pedicure and facial before attending glitzy events.

The cheese-making musician – who is best known as the bassist of the Britpop group – swapped out his partying lifestyle to reside on a farm in the Cotswolds in South West England with his large family.

And ahead of the BRIT Awards in London on Saturday (02.02.24), the 55-year-old star has revealed that rather than being plied with booze and looking blurry-eyed, like previous years, he will be looking fresh-faced and refreshed.

Alex is quoted by The Sun newspaper’s Bizarre column as saying: “I love a mani, I love a pedi. A 90-minute facial and I’m all in.

“Especially if you’re travelling a lot, it’s the first thing I do when I’m in a hotel – get straight in the sauna. It rinses all the filth.”

Blur are nominated for the Alternative/Rock award after returning with their first album since 2015, ‘The Ballad of Darren’, last year.

The ‘Parklife hitmaker – who met his wife, Claire Neates, the mother of his five children, after ditching alcohol in 2002 – revealed last year he had been having cold water therapy, cryotherapy, to fit back into his Britpop trousers.

Alongside a video of him in the freezing chamber, he wrote on X/Twitter: “Back in the upside down sauna for round 2. Almost back into my #britpop trousers #cryotherapy.”

Meanwhile, Alex previously admitted the adjustment between his two very different lifestyles can be tricky.

The festival owner – who runs The Big Feastival on his farm – told Red magazine: “The last time I went away, I dropped the kids at school and flew to Mexico City, where there were thousands of people waiting for us at the airport and hotel.

“When we got to the venue – a stadium – it was huge.

“But afterwards, you get home and you have to wash up and the kids are like, ‘Dad, stop being a [redacted].’”