The Good, The Bad, and The Queen at Webster Hall

TGTBTQ rolled into Webster Hall last night (March 12), and like their eponymous album, it was a good but not great show. With a top hat on his head, Damon Albarn played ringmaster to his cadre of known-from-other-bands musicians - Tony Allen, Simon Tong, and Paul Simonon. Even the stage dress had a circus appearance, with the backdrop of a seaside town/amusement park and bunting overhead. Damon banged away on his piano, Tony languished behind the drums for the overwhelmingly downtempo songs, Paul attempted to rock out on his bass, and Simon did the yeoman's work of throwing in chords on top of the piano and organ. The basslines actually were the most impressive parts of the music, although the string quartet was a nice touch.

They played the album all the way through from start to finish. Like the album itself, "History Song" and "Herculean" were the best songs of the evening. As I said, it was a good but not great performance. The crowd was more impressed with who was on stage rather than the music itself. Nevertheless, I give Damon a lot of credit - he's been a great force in music with all of his different projects. One could almost say he's a musical genius.