Badly Drawn Boy
Paradise Rock Club, Boston (November 3, 2000)
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Badly Drawn Boy
Paradise Rock Club, Boston
November 3, 2000 |
Damon Gough, the madman behind Badly Drawn Boy, has been greatly touted for his lovely, sprawling debut albm The Hour Of Bewilderbeast. The disc even helped Gough secure the Mercury Music Prize, which is awarded yearly to the best in British music.
On Nov. 3, Badly Drawn Boy kicked off their first American tour at Boston's Paradise Rock Club. After nearly an hour delay and no opening act, Gough (who looks like a rounder, if less appealing Elliott Smith, stocking cap included) and his wonderfully proficient band stormed the stage in a flood of posturing and self-celebration, namely from Gough himself.
The show began with the appropiately termed "water suite": the trilogy of "Fall In The River," "Stone On The Water," and "Camping Next To Water." Gough's antics, though, were on full display by the second song. After labeling Oasis' Liam Gallagher a "poof" for his over-the-top, often crowd-bashing onstage behavior, Gough then presented two-and-a-half hours of the most testosterone-induced and at times thoroughly discomforting maneuvers that I have ever witnessed on stage.
He goaded both male and (especially) female audience members into sharing their names in the mic and then turned the names into 15-minute free jazz jams. During the course of this process there were various interludes of Gough fondling audience members and kissing his bandmates on the mouth. The absolute pinnacle, though, was when Gough stuffed a towel down his pants and claimed that his "crotch" juices had restorative properties. Though he attempted to bestow the towel upon the crowd, there were no takers.
Between endless tangents that rivaled Tolstoy's exhaustive descriptions of farming, Badly Drawn Boy actually managed to play some songs. I was initially weary of how the band was going to convert the beautiful textures of Bewilderbeast to the live format. However, Badly Drawn Boy has obviously figured out how to both rock and experiment in the course of one show. The band's awesome ability to improvise and jam on both established and ad hoc material made the performance memorable.
The weakest musical moments were when Gough played solo, and particularly when he drew upon material from his early, limitedly released EPs. Another low point was the use of a mic that altered Gough's usually pleasant voice to an utterly horrendous sound. However, the evening's mood was dominated by Gough stalking about the stage, bizarrely seducing and discarding female fans and repeatedly declaring, with pride, that his girlfriend is expecting their first child in December. This unique energy sometimes even carried over into the songs.
As the show dragged to a close with acoustic performances of "The Shining," "Pissing In The Wind" and "Epitaph," it became clear that the music had been subverted to the ridiculousness of the performance. But, despite a delayed start, an outlandish stage display, and a set that was far too long for its own good, Badly Drawn Boy provided for a thoroughly entertaining evening.
A.K. GOLD | A.K. Gold lives in Washington, D.C., where she slaves away for a non-profit organization and constantly compares everything to New York City or Chicago. She's earned her "cred" as a college radio and pre-1960 country music DJ, committed indie label street teamer, sporadic zinemaker/contributor, retired mail-order filler and occasional freelance writer. From time to time, she publishes Anecdotal Evidence, a per zine that will some day be considered for the National Book Award, or possibly not. If you want to buy a copy, or desire to write to her for some other reason, email criticgirl@hotmail.com.