A Minor Incident

Badly Drawn Boy at the Fox Theater, Boulder. I’ve always liked BDB’s studio stuff, but never felt compelled one way or the other towards seeing him live. So when some co-workers invited me to join them last night, I figured, why not? Unfortunately, due to some rather tragic circumstances, what we saw was disappointing. Before he even played a single note, Damon Gough (that’s his real name) came onstage and announced that he was out of sorts because his grandfather had just died, but he decided to go on with the show anyway and dedicate it to his grandfather’s memory. Unfortunately, Gough’s mind was obviously not on his music, which led to a rather disjointed show, since he skipped over songs in the setlist several times, then had several conferences with his band between numbers to figure out when to go back and play what they had missed. I was also disappointed in the songs from his new album, a heavily Springsteen-influenced set entitled Born in the U.K. It became obvious very quickly into the show that Gough’s voice is much better suited to quieter numbers, and when the set switched to a bigger rock sound (i.e. most of the new songs), he was overpowered by his band. Things got much better when he played an acoustic mini-set of 4 or 5 songs, accompanied only by another band member on xylophone, and also when he put down his guitar and played piano backed by the band. Based on the bright spots, I’d be willing to give BDB another shot, especially since it was pretty clear that last night wasn’t his best performance. But it’s not like the night was a complete waste. If nothing else, I got to wander around Boulder and check out all the hot women out enjoying the warm weather. As Gough said at one point, “Usually when I introduce this song, I say ‘This one’s for all the pretty girls’ and I’m just talking out my ass. But not in Boulder. Plenty of beautiful ladies here.”