POP MUSIC

After previous no-shows, Rex Sexsmith made it up to the crowd at Jammin' Java. (By Suzanne Plunkett -- Associated Press)

The Good, the Bad and the Queen

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The Good, the Bad and the Queen's sold-out show at the 9:30 club on Wednesday was a pop concert, sure, but it felt more like a chance to glimpse a one-off of British pop royalty (Blur's Damon Albarn), uber-royalty (Paul Simonon of the Clash), Afrobeat legend (Tony Allen of Africa 70) and a consummate guitarist (Simon Tong of the Verve). And although the set of spectral dub-pop was entertaining, it never rose above the nagging sense that the crowd was applauding individual personas more than group performance.

A top-hatted female string quartet preceded the top-hatted Albarn, who proceeded to lead GBQ (a default moniker -- officially, the group has no name) through its album with a faintly academic air that wasn't so much short on warmth as simply dispensingwith frivolity. Simonon elicited the most delight from the crowd -- which mostly looked too young to have seen the Clash live -- and he seemed to strain against the tether of his huge, loping bass lines, slinging himself side to side.

Ringleader Albarn appeared delighted to be performing his mind-movies about life in a disconnected, modern London. Aptly, the hour-long set's highlights were the inward-looking tunes: the distended "Behind the Sun" and the weary pair "A Soldier's Tale" and "Green Fields." Better still was "Three Changes," which provided much more tension and angularity (especially from Tong and Allen) than the limp rave-up on the project's title track.

The encore did not bring the hoped-for version of the Clash's "Guns of Brixton," which reportedly was played at some British dates, but rather two negligible extras -- a fitting encapsulation of a night of major stars making minor music.

-- Patrick Foster

Ron Sexsmith

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Ron Sexsmith is no George Jones. But Canada's most sensitive singer-songwriter had a Jonesian track record at Jammin' Java, posting last-minute no-shows on consecutive tours. On Wednesday, he showed up with his band, healing whatever wounds remained.

"You should feel lucky the shows were canceled," Sexsmith said, explaining that the same bad colds that kept him away had ruined his performance in venues where he did show up. Still, after opening with "Former Glory," Sexsmith told the audience it could decide whether he should do one long set or two short ones (the crowd voted for two) and what songs those sets should include.

As always happens in these democratic affairs, the requests favored the old stuff, and the baby-faced 43-year-old sat alone at a piano in the corner while answering pleas for "Riverbed" and "So Young." Other crowd pleasers included "Strawberry Blonde" and "Gold in Them Hills," the latter of which he recorded with Coldplay's Chris Martin.

Sexsmith occasionally ignored the shouts and worked in material from his latest disc, "Time Being," which stood up amid the oldies, and showed he still loves the Beatles. "Snow Angel" was one of many that had a "Magical Mystery Tour" vibe.

Sexsmith also delivered "Jazz at the Bookstore," which laments how America's great contributions to modern music, jazz and blues, are now heard only in retail outlets, and takes shots at generic coffeehouse culture: "Livin' in white yuppy land /Over by the milk and sugar stand . . . Sipping coffees that we can't pronounce."

-- Dave McKenna