The Good, the Bad & the Queen: North Pier theatre, Blackpool
Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 2 December 2018
DAMON ALBARN JABS A FINGER at Brexit Britain's divisions but the show turns bawdily riotous and, with the help of a male voice choir, inspirational
Away from the Golden Sands and kiss-me-quick hats, Blackpool — with its faded glamour, devastating poverty and austerity, and where 67% voted to leave the EU — is startlingly emblematic of the problems and divisions facing modern Britain. Thus, a rehearsal room here was the starting point (in 2017) for The Good, The Bad & the Queen's new, second album, Merrie Land, in which Damon Albarn, the polymathic songwriter who once soundtracked Cool Britannia with Blur's Britpop colossus, Parklife, attempts to make sense of post-referendum Brexit Britain.
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