The Badly Drawn Boy Show

This is not just about music.. it's a personal experience, so I felt it needed to be a journal for me, instead of a thread for the music forum.

I knew this guy was talented, and had a sense of humour.. but, you always appreciate something more when you see it live.

After Leona Naess was finished, a classic-sounding ambient soundtrack started playing. And, then kicked in singing: "....blowing in the wind...". It took forever for Badly Drawn Boy to come out, and it seemed forever, 'cause we were all in anticipation.

Finally, minutes later, Badly Drawn Boy comes out, with his hands in the air, and he comes into the light, and he looks like he's ready for a blizzard, bundled in an army green thick jacket, and a fuzzy winter beanie on his head, capping his long hair, and still looking scruffy with his beard... pretty much looking like a homeless dude.. and it was coo, 'cause it looked coo and funny at the same time. He grabs the mic, with it still being attached to the stand, and starts singing over the soundtrack. I never seen anything like it before. It was hilarious! He sang atop the vocals that were playing from the soundtrack, and just acting all chill and all. No instrument at his disposal. Just him and the mic, and him singing over the sountrack, like he was doing karoke or something. I must say again, this cracked me up, and thought it was so neat at the same time.

Then, after a little bit of that.... (and he went through with that whole thing, 'til the song was over, i couldn't believe it... too funny) ..anyway, he broke out with his acoustic guitar, and sang a song that seemed like he wrote, just minutes ago, before the show started, and if not, he just thought of it, on the spot, ...'cause from what the vocals were.. they applied to the very moment, of him being in NYC, and he mentioned in his singing about whenever he talks, people here always laugh, even if it's not funny. And, of course that made the crowd laugh, for him mentioning that, with his English accent and all.

Time went on, and the stage had instruments on it, but I began to think, hmmm, I wonder if those are for this show, 'cause he was still playing solo on his acoustic. But, it turns out, that he did do a lot of songs solo on his acoustic and electric piano, but for songs here and there he had a drummer and bassist come out on the stage to join in... so some songs we did get to hear with a band. His solo songs were awesome tho, too. I enjoyed both scenerios.

Badly Drawn Boy was funny the whole night through, but some of his humour you really hafta listen for, 'cause he keeps a straight face, and says things like they're serious. That's like me sometimes, huh? Interesting to see it from a perspective. Very dry humour. I love it.

He has amazing skill with finger picking. On songs that I'd always thought was played on two separate guitar tracks overdubbed on different songs, was actually just him on one single guitar, I came to find out from seeing him Sunday at the show. Some songs were so complex, and he insisted on getting it perfect for us, he actually stopped in mid-song, and said, I'm gonna start this one over, and did. One of the songs, I think he started over with, like 3 or 4 times. It was great.

He also was fed up that his guitar they didn't turn up enough for him, and had to tell the sound guys repeatedly about making it more audible. He wanted to get it perfect, 'cause the song had real sentimental value, and dedicated it to several special friends he had, and his kids, and girlfriend. And that was the case for more than just that one song, too, if I recall. One of his friends recently passed away at age 33 or 34, and with Elliot Smith just dying recently too, it's been a really sad past few weeks for him, so he made dedications for them.

Before starting it over he needed to just take a break from it for awhile, and chatted to the crowd for a bit, like we were close friends of his, and had a photograph of his two kids that he handed to someone in the audience, so it could be passed around for everyone in the venue to see. It was really special, and thought that was so neat.

With some emotional outpouring, he threw in some humour down the road, to balance things, including recollections (we couldn't tell if they were true or made-up recollections, nonetheless, they were funny either way) about his times hanging out with Bruce Springstine in the past, and writing a song with George Bush (of course, a made-up story) called "1 + 1 is 1," which he hopes is on the due album next March. (Speaking of that, he played a few songs that were new to everyone and due on the March 2004 album.) And, he introduced one song, saying: "This is a song from a movie called 'Kramer vs. Kramer.'" Too funny.

Later on, he cracked another George Bush reference within his song: "You Were Right," which he played solo on his electric piano. The part where it goes: "...and I just had a dream the other night, I was married to the Queen, and Madonna lived next door..." he substituted "Queen" with "George Bush" which musta been the funninest thing of the night. Altho, things got emotional once again when he got to the part about: "...and I remember doing nothing on the night Sinatra died, and on the night Kurt Cobain died, and the night Jeff Buckley died..." 'cause after "...John Lennon..." he sang: "...and on the night Elliot Smith died..." as well as others.

After a string of songs, he and the band took a ten-minute break, and came back with another string of songs.

What I liked so much about the show, and will always remember, is his chill approach with it. He took his time, the show wasn't rushed. So, the show could be enjoyed. Just like when you have a really good dinner before you. You don't want to scarf it down. You want to take your time, so you can enjoy it. He talked with the audience, like we were all at a pub, and listening to his stories of his life, and it didn't matter what time we got done, hanging out. And, you might think with all this taking-your-time stuff, he hardly played that many songs. But, it was quite the opposite. I think that was probably the most songs I've ever seen played at any show I've been to, in my whole life. And, they aren't ultra-quick songs either. At, 12:45am, he was still playing. He threw in some songs I've never heard.. they seemed to be spontaneous songs.. like he did more songs, that sounded like he just made them up as he went along.. which was so neat.

At, 12:45 me and my friend had to leave the show though, reluctantly. We had a train to catch, and thought the last train we could get is one that's at like 1. So, we hired a cab to get us to Penn Station. Surely enough, the train wasn't due to leave at 1, but leave at 1:37.. so, we were really bummed that we coulda stayed probably to the end. I never thought it would go up to even 12:30, otherwise I would've drove my car to the City.

Hopefully, it won't be too long, before I get to go to another Badly Drawn Boy show. If you haven't heard his music before, I recommend you give it a chance. It's awesome stuff.