SAN FRANCISCO--Much has been made of the all-star lineup of the Good, The Bad & The Queen, the default moniker for the Damon Albarn-fronted supergroup that also includes former Clash bassist Paul Simonon, legendary Afrobeat drummer Tony Allen, and Verve guitarist Simon Tong.

The Good, The Bad & The Queen

But what makes the group so compelling, as evidenced in a stellar set last night here at The Grand Ballroom, is that its players are so disciplined, remaining within the confines of the system. These guys can each paint masterpieces on their own, but they're just fine coloring within the lines.

The result last night was a set of taut, dubby cinematic rock songs that oozed with tension. But as Albarn crooned about the streets of modern West London, his lyrics were so precise and the sound so lush that one thing was clear: This was a score that didn't need a film.

At the tail end of a whirlwind weekend that featured a late-night performance at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, the band was a bit late to arrive onstage. But when it did, accompanied by an organist and a string quartet, the band jumped right into its debut album's opening song, "History Song," which set the perfect mood for the night.

Paul Simonon

It wasn't the most electrifying set, what with all the downbeat, but it was certainly riveting. Simonon laid down rich dub bass lines, and Allen splashed deceptively layered drum patterns, but the tension never quite got a full release.

There were some exceptions, though. "Three Changes," the one song on the album that allows Allen to flex his polyrhythmic skills, was exhilarating and threatened to blow the doors off the place. But it didn't, and although the tension-without-release might have seemed anticlimactic for some, it was pure bliss for others.