Looking more like a Seventies hippie than English pop star, Badly Drawn Boy (a.k.a. Damon Gough) kicked off his U.S. tour in Detroit on Saturday with a schizophrenic mix of song and beat poetry, as well as praise and hatred for the St. Andrews Hall crowd.

Wearing a head wrap and baggy clothing, Gough dedicated the opening number, the rollicking "Fall in the River," to the "incredible" crowd, who seemingly turned on him less than halfway through the show.

"Am I like watching paint dry?" he asked the folks near the back bar who talked through his set. "Please shut the fuck up down there. I want sheer silence. This is no fucking joke! I don't want to hear one word uttered."

The audience of about 500 responded with slightly less chatting, and Gough went on to perform without a microphone, which compounded the situation. He eventually returned to the mike.

The singer antagonized fans during the performance, walking a fine line between humor and abuse. Someone handed him a cigarette as a show of support and, upon lighting it, Gough tossed it back. When a fan requested a cover song, he told the crowd that they weren't at a "Beck concert."

The odd behavior could be chalked up to self-esteem issues, from which Gough admitted to be suffering. While "Fall in the River" was for the crowd, he dedicated the second song, "Camping Next to Water," to himself. To help himself through the song, he pointed at the "lamp of courage," which lit on demand. His insecurity was bolstered by throat problems, which he said he has never battled previously. "I won't be wussing out like Coldplay ," he said about the fellow Brits who cancelled several dates due to illness on their last North American tour.

Gough's throat problems, however, did not plague the performance. Instead, it was microphone feedback as well as lengthy songs and poems that did the damage. "Fall in the River" was the first of many dragged-out numbers that helped push the concert past the three-hour mark. Before performing the song, he fiddled with his acoustic guitar, snapped his fingers, clapped his hands and punched the air in victory. He then apologized to the crowd for the extended rendition.

"Thank you for being so patient," Gough the crowd of about 500, which was peppered with Badly Drawn Boy-like rainbow-colored head wraps. Many London transplants, now living in the Detroit area, took the opportunity to check out the singer, who won the 2000 U.K. Mercury Prize for his debut album The Hour of the Bewilderbeast (Beggars Banquet).

Despite the music and the poetry (backed by minimalist jazz beats), Gough's sense of humor proved to be the show's savior. In lieu of an opening act, a short "mockumentary" kicked off the show. As the words "He is a legend" and "He is a star" flashed across a video screen, it seemed that it was a stereotypical arrogant English pop-star move. Instead, it lead into the story of an English pool cleaner who was recruited by Jon Bon Jovi to do the same job at his home.

That set the stage for the humorous side of Badly Drawn Boy. He asked the crowd "What day is today?" When the audience responded with "Saturday," he said, "That has no relevance on this song."

CHRISTINA FUOCO
(May 1, 2001)