I arrived at the Commodore Ballroom just in time to catch the start of the Badly Drawn Boy show. I settled into a seat off to the side of the venue to enjoy the show, not feeling energetic enough to stand. The crowd was fairly small for the Commodore, but those that were there were appreciative of the work.

Badly Drawn Boy blends styles and genres, from rock to folk to country, done British style. Damon Gough is the one-man star of the act, and displayed the range of his skills very nicely as the night unfolded. Wearing his standard toque and jacket (how he could be cold during a show, I don’t know), he launched into a performance of his entire new album, One Plus One is One, interspersed with commentary that gave quite a bit of meaning to the material. Although he did note that it was his favorite album, doing the entire thing didn’t seem to please him, so I was left wondering why it was done that way. The crowd that night was lucky to be getting the only rendition of the whole album, but it did seem that there were some start-of-tour dynamics to be worked out. Gough noted that he was still very jetlagged from the flight overseas, and that “it’s 7am in Britain, and my children are just going to school now.”

Using a wide range of stringed and other instruments, the large group of musicians on stage did a very good job at rendering the lush sounds of the new album. I didn’t like the flute much, as it reminded me of the Granville Island buskers, but otherwise the performance was quite enjoyable, even with self-admitted errors.

Badly Drawn Boy also has a softer side, and Gough demonstrated his skill solo with an acoustic guitar, as well as a piano at some points. Once the album was complete, he seemed to have more fun playing older material, which got a much better response from the crowd, as well as super short songs that contained an interesting musical arrangement, or some other whimsical attraction. One of the interesting song dedications was to George Bush, along with choice words like “beady eyed fucker”, and “useless little twat.”

The show on the whole was long, and I learned from fans that he has a reputation for very drawn out shows. I did enjoy the fact that Gough explained the background of many of the songs, but as a result the flow of the show suffered a little. If I had been in a more energetic state, I would have welcomed the length, but as it was, I admit that I was getting bored by the end. Apparently some of the crowd shared my feelings, as the number of people seemed to shrink quite a bit near the end.

On the whole, Badly Drawn Boy presented a well crafted performance, but there was some of the ego stroking that unfortunately comes along with solo artists sometimes. What I do know now is that I will definitely seek out more recordings, as I have had my interest piqued by the work of Badly Drawn Boy.

Elsewhere

By Ryan Ince
Photos : Andy Scheffler
Published : November 15, 2004.