The Good, The Bad & The Queen, Albert Hall. 16th April 2019

I was fearful going in to tonight. I love the two The Good, The Bad and The Queen album’s, but how would this melancholy dystopia come across live? Quite well actually, largely thanks to Damon Alban’s star presence. Not to say the rest of the very large band are lacking, there’s a ridiculously solid rhythm section, bolstered with bongos, three organs (although not all at once) and a small string section, all belting out a ska infused bleak end of the pier chamber pop that’s quite marvellous. There’s so many players, Albert Hall’s small stage can’t accommodate them all and several are banished to the balcony level above, something I’ve not seen here before, but it works really well, opening up the stage spectacle with an equally impressive lighting set up. It’s a show, pure simple, effective, peppered with vaudevillian bombast. Alban is in fine voice, his range now seemingly more suited to this material than his other musical outings. Sadly those older bands he’s part of have brought in a few idiots that don’t know how to behave at a gig. It’s quite simple, don’t talk all the way through, don’t try to record the whole thing on your shit phone and don’t drink so much you knock into me... it’s not hard is it. It doesn’t take the sheen off though. I worried that live this might fall flat, a bit too dour. I was wrong. Yes these songs are a lot about the country going to the dogs, but I’ve always found light in the darkness and tonight TGTBATQ (as no one calls them) shine bright and as the set ramps up, the band get tighter and the whole thing builds to an epic finale. It’s good, no bad, and the queen really doesn’t matter.