The Good, The Bad & The Queen

At first, Blur and Gorillaz frontman Damon Albarn’s band didn’t seem to be a frontrunner for the headliner slot at Bol’. Its competition on the festival’s main stage included the American extreme hip-hop group Death Grips and the Moscow-based electronic duo IC3PEAK (which has recently made headlines for facing official persecution). Nonetheless, Albarn’s collective of highly experienced musicians (The Clash bassist Paul Simonon, The Verve guitarist Simon Tong, and celebrated Nigerian drummer Tony Allen) brought such an intimate, lyrical set to Moscow that the crowd sang along with all its heart even when the band turned to its latest, less-than-impressive album, Merrie Land. Toward the end of the band’s performance, Albarn became so moved that he gave an extemporaneous speech about how bad things are right now in his homeland thanks to Brexit. The audience did their best to offer their support, but inside, they seemed to be thinking, “If only we had your problems.”