After a handfull of warmup shows and four high-exposure media gigs at the end of 2006, the band behind The Good, The Bad & The Queen headed out on their first proper tour in January 2007. Rather than take the obvious route of the Academies and Empires, a more unusual itenary of UK venues and locales was assembled. This decision to head off the track beaten by the music industry was a conscious one, as Damon remarked, "These are places forgotten by the music industry. Not really off the beaten track - Motherwell for example, that's a big city, just nobody ever goes to it." It was also suggested that some of the places had historic significance for certain members of the band, with Southsea's Parade Pier selected after Albarn played there in 1995 Blur's Seaside Tour while Aylesbury, had witnessed a Clash gig on January 5, 1980 which also featured Ian Dury. Even in the more obvious tour stop London, the venue was a talking point, being a Victorian Hall now part of a local community centre, and more commonly used these days for boxing matches! The choice of towns and venues combined to offer fans an opportunity to get up-close and personal to the musical legends onstage - tickets for almost all the dates sold out quickly (with full houses every night come showtime) but those lucky enough to get tickets were treated to a truly intimate show. After the six UK tour dates, the band headed to France for a show and then to Germany for two more, with the tour coming to a close in Berlin on the 8th February. The final night of the tour would see eager fans travelling from all across Europe to catch The Good, The Bad & The Queen being performed live.


Each night, the audience was treated to a full performance of the band's album The Good, The Bad & The Queen, in order. The record had been released to general critical acclaim just prior to the start of the tour and excitement around the new band was high. Onstage, alongside the standard four-piece lineup (plus longtime collaborator Mike Smith) a string quartet added colour and texture to many of the songs, allowing for a fuller reproduction of the album sound. On occasions, the strings would even lead songs in new directions - such as the extended introduction to History Song (only added for the last three dates) and the extended ornate outro to Nature Springs. The band had also changed some of the song arrangements from the 2006 shows - Kingdom Of Doom and History Song now featured electric guitar instead of acoustic, and Damon took to the piano for Green Fields, bringing the live performance closer to that on the record. As well as the album tracks, on some dates Damon mischeviously slipped in a part solo piano performance of 'Intermission' from Blur's album Modern Life Is Rubbish as a link between two songs - always to great cheers from the crowd!


After the main set was over the applause never let up, and the band returned each night for performances of 'Back In The Day' and 'Mr.Whippy', the B-sides from first single Herculean. Back In The Day in particular benefitted from the live setting, a delicious dub groove conjured up by the incomparable rhythm section of Paul and Tony with Damon's plaintuve Harmonica communing with the spirit of Augustus Pablo. Then for the finale, Mr.Whippy, Eslam Jarwaad stepped up to deliver his rap about modern-day London as a fitting bookend for the themes of the album that had gone before, frequently exhorting the crowd to hold up their hands in a modified peace sign, "united not divided", a hope for multiculturalism today. On the opening night of the tour alone, Back In The Day was omitted, and after playing Mr.Whippy, the band launched straight into a cover of The Clash's Guns Of Brixton - which of course was penned by bassist Paul Simonon, who also took lead vocals on the track. The lucky fans, some of whom were diehard Clash supporters, couldn't believe their ears! However the band would not play this again, Damon explaining that the band's version couldn't compare to The Clash!


To round off the spectacle, a bewildering array of talent provided the support for the band during the tour. For the UK shows comedian Justin Edwards compered the evenings, with a mix of dry wit, self- deprecating humour and intentionally awful attempts at ventriloquism that drew laughs and applause each night. Bluegrass act Indigo Moss were the other constant, their breezy tunes and expert picking providing the last entertainment before the band hit the stage. Beyond that, depending on which night you attended, you might have seen Benny Bellend - dressed up in a naked suit while performing Victorian stunts, 'The Great Blondini' a magician in a blonde wig who encouraged the audience to call his tricks 'shit', a contortionist so flexible she had the crowd's eyes watering, jugglers and saw-players, amongst many more acts. The idea behind making the evening's entertainment constitute a 'variety show', - staple of the Victorian era which the band's album at times evokes - had first come to fruition for their one-off Myspace gig the previous December, but was here rolled out on the tour.



The whole experience, just as the band's album itself, defied precise categorisation. As far as the fan and press reaction went however, one thing was clear: a splendid time was guaranteed for all! Read on below for the full story of each night though words, pictures and video from fans and the press!