Readers, I feel I need to get one thing straight from the very beginning, I am a huge Damon Albarn fan. As far as I’m concerned, he is a genius. Musically there is nothing he cannot do. All his bands have been incredible. I love him. Love him you hear?! So, as you may have gathered, there will be very little criticism in this review. In fact calling it a “review” is a stretch, instead I shall call it an UNEQUIVOCAL PRAISE FEST. Did I mention I was a fan?
So… THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE QUEEN played at the Tower of London, and it was certainly an impressive venue, the Tower looming in the background complementing the dark London scene that The Good The Bad and The Queen use as their back-drop.
The band came on stage and took their positions. Albarn was dressed in a smooth black suit (sigh), and he moved to the front of the stage, smiling at the audience (swoon) before placing a top hat on his head and picking his trusted guitar (Faint. Thud).
The band sang all the songs from their self-titled album, and like the album he kicked off with ‘The History Song’. It was fab. Albarn’s rich vocals sounded both haunting and beautiful. There was a slight surge of energy as Albarn started singing ‘Northern Whale’, dedicating it to the very Southern Whale that swum down the Thames! Aw…
It was not only Albarn who charmed the crowd, during this song Paul Simonon, legendary Clash bassist, was certainly a spectacle. Standing next to Albarn he swayed hypnotically to the music, providing a deep and steady electronic tinged beat. Throughout the set he swaggered around stage, flouting the smoking ban (remember folks, it’s not big, it’s not clever, and it’s against the law), and rocking his base guitar back and forth. Fabulous stuff.
Simon Tong had his fair share of banter with Albarn and Simonon in between songs, and all genuinely seem relaxed. During ‘Nature Springs’ Damon sat down on the front of the stage swinging his legs smiling at the people trying to reach out and touch him. Needless to say I was far too cool to try clutch at his leg. Honest.
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The set became decidedly active as Damon started ‘Three Changes’, po-going around the stage like in the good old Blur days, he charged at drummer Tony Allen like a bull in a ring, and frantically tapped his feet and pointed at the crowd chanting ‘…on a stroppy little island of mixed up people’. All the favourites from the album were included, and ‘Green Fields’ and ‘Herculean’ were both greeted with extreme joy.
As I may have previously mentioned, I’m a bit of an Albarn fan. He could sing a Cheeky Girl’s number and I would still be impressed. But this evening he was particularly excellent, effortlessly dividing his time between piano and guitar, singing beautifully, and enjoying the audience as much as they enjoyed him.
This is a Super Group made of music legends, and this evening was amazing, even the rain forgot to come along, obviously to enthralled by the performance!
I do have one small complaint though. Whoever asked Harry Enfield to compere should be shot. The words ‘cringeworthy” and “unfunny” spring to mind, especially with the Diana jokes, oh yaaaaaaawn.
However, that aside, TBTBATQ were phenomenal, and the gig was awesome. But we’d expect nothing less from this band though, would we?
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