Badly Drawn Boy

There’s a musician I really dig a lot named Badly Drawn Boy. His real name is Damon Gough, and he’s from England. I don’t really know how to describe his sound…he’s a bit of a storyteller, and keeps the melodies pretty casual and simple in his music. He claims that the music comes much easier than the lyrics, but that’s hard to believe if you read and listen to his words as they are filled with great imagery, as well as the joys and pains of being alive.

He has released 5 albums commercially: “The Hour of the Bewilderbeast” in June of 2000; he did the soundtrack for the very good movie “About a Boy” in April of 2002; “Have You Fed The Fish?” in November of 2002; “One Plus One is One” in June of 2004 and most recently “Born in The UK” in October of 2006.

I have them all, and like them all. I guess if I had to give a “favorite”, it would be “About a Boy”, followed by “The Hour of the Bewilderbeast”, but this by no means is meant to imply that I have any bad feelings about the other three releases.

Anyway, BDB began his current US tour in Philadelphia last Saturday night (March 3, 2007) at the Theater of the Living Arts (the TLA), and I was there. (NOTE: The TLA is a 15-minute walk from my house, and it’s my favorite venue for concerts. It holds about 1,000 people, so all of the shows are nice and close and you feel like you’re part of the stage because the band is so close.) It was a fantastic show!! I saw BDB at the TLA in November of 2004 in support of his then-new “One Plus One Is One” album. That too was a good show, but I think Saturday’s show was actually better. Hard to be objective, I guess. He played for about 2 and a half hours, with the set list focusing mostly on his new album (Born in the UK), and a decent amount of tunes from his first one (The Hour of the Bewilderbeast). They did songs from the other albums, too, of course.

I don’t have the exact order of songs, but I think I can remember most of what he played: Without a Kiss; Welcome to the Overground; Nothing’s Gonna Change Your Mind; Born in the UK; Journey from A to B; Degrees of Separation; The Further I Slide; A Minor Incident; Once Around the Block; This is That New Song; The Shining; Above You Below Me; Long Way Round; All Possibilities; Promises; Walk You Home Tonight; Silent Sigh; You Were Right; The Way Things Used to Be; Cause a Rockslide; Fall in a River; Everybodys Stalking; Donna and Blitzen; Magic in the Air; Thunder Road.

Hmmm…is that correct? I’m sure I’ve missed some tunes, and may have inadvertently injected some he didn’t play, but I’m pretty sure that’s a close list.

The cool thing about BDB is that he also spends time talking to the crowd, so between songs he banters a lot. He actually began the show by saying he felt like the band might be a bit rusty, but they sounded great.

The uncool thing about BDB is that he’s a big fan of Bruce Sprinsteen. Gag!!! I just am not a fan of Springsteen. His music is all the same, and he can’t sing, and he’s boring. There…I said it. He’s boring. So, it’s amazing that BDB is so drawn to his music. It’s no coincidence that BDB’s album title is a take on Bruce’s “Born in the USA”, and he also is playing “Thunder Road” as part of his set this time around. I remember from his November 2004 show at the TLA he talked for about 10 minutes about meeting Bruce Sprinsteen in England in the late 90’s/early 2000’s. Regardless, BDB is a fave of mine.

So if you get a chance, check out Badly Drawn Boy. And if you have time to see him in the States on his brief tour, go catch him. $21 for a 2 ½ hour show is an awesome deal for such a great musician and band, eh?