The Good, The Bad and The Queen, Harry Enfield, K’Naan & John Cooper Clarke – The Tower of London - 9/7/07
5/5
By: Alex Lee Thomson
There's something exquisite about going to one of our country's oldest, most significant and loved locations to see an equally as renowned artist, in this case Damon Albarn, and though there has been a certain degree of post-gig controversy, the night had something of a timeless and eccentric charm that was quite rightly witnessed by the Rockfeedback massive.
The line up that accompanied Albarn's new project, the officially un-named band going by the title of their collective album, 'The Good The Bad and The Queen', was something of an intriguing collection. Firstly there was K'Naan, a rapper who's troublesome past (and by that we mean he was actually a child soldier, not just happened to grow up on the wrong side of the 'hood), and deliberate attack on the very fundamentals that placed him in such circumstances were very much the focal point of his aggressive, though often repetitive style of rap. He was followed by the ever-entertaining and wonderfully unprofessional poetry styling of John Cooper Clarke who took us through some of the weirder aspects of what makes his cogs tick, with a satirical eye for the mendacity of modern pop culture. He was kind of like a lost pirate from the Caribbean who had stumbled across an old dusty book of verse from the last century but with every other word crossed out and some naughty ones put in their place. The adult nature of the show continued undoubtedly into our compere, Harry Enfield (cue controversy), who made no attempts to hide his trademark dark side and un-PC natured material. At some point between a mischievous joke about Diana's (Princess of Wales) ashes and the execution of Tony Blair live on stage, his humour may have bowed a little too far with numerous complaints being made to the crude manner in which he addressed certain subject matter, however with a sense of 'go with the flow' and the unique comic timing of Enfield, it did all seem rather funny at the time.
Enfield did of course have a pressingly important job to do, and that was to introduce The Good the Bad & The Queen, a band that has defiantly done everything different from Albarn's last project, Gorillaz, to become a conflicting image of his former band proving admittedly less instantly commercial, but by no means inferior. This band is more of a follow on from 'Think Tank', Blur's last album that was filled with equally as fascinatingly droll checkers like 'Out Of Time'; that slow old-world idea of cabaret songsmanship and band stands coming to light, and has gracefully meandered into the fretwork of this new sound aided by Simonon and Tong's relieving strings. That night, as the band appear every night, they were dressed in top hats and tails, the quintessentially oddball demeanour of their new personas visualised by the raiding of Victorian style fancy dress shops and old theatre dustbins, the opulence of up-market cabaret as it were. The blinding outlooks of Albarn from underneath his faded hat pierced the piano chimes of 'Kingdom Of Doom' that stood erect as any song that amazing should, capriciously and poetically charged.
This of course though is a super-group, and beyond Albarn's magnate and lasting vocals howls the challengingly hostile glare from Simonon's bass guitar that wraps the TGTB&TQ tunes with the elasticity and connection of heated cling film, furrowed but completely concentrated and excused. All the imposing performances clang together into the subtle interest of the bands set and with just the slightest notion at a melody each song is taken flying on a magic carpet of gallant and nostalgic, back to basics, song making and showmanship. They may not have the leverage of Blur or the anthem-like punchlines of Gorillaz, but what they lose in formality they make up for in talent, this being easily the most determined and musically coherent body of work Damon has ever done, and like the songs or not, that's a basic fact which shadows each and every shockingly illustrious poem from 'Green Fields' to 'Herculean'.
To say the show was surprising would be incorrect as it was, in fairness, exactly what it should have been, and more essentially, what people wanted it to be. The stunning setting, sandwiched between the outer moat wall and the castle itself, outside though still remarkably non-smoking (something which Simonon delightfully ignored), was the perfect situation in which to place a band of this magnificence and majesty. Their songs were as beautiful as the location itself and a rare occasion to see a complete bill of eclectic treats the likes of which will surely be hard to top for a good while. The sense of 'festival' that was created for a few hours in the centre of London's financial district was nothing short of fantastic and so by default you have to give whoever put this whole thing together one massive pat on the back. This was in fact so special that we wouldn't be surprised if the real Queen herself didn't have just a little something to do with it.
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