Despite dubious first half, Boy rocks in the end

Sitting ““ I mean standing ““ through intermission at
the redesigned Wiltern theater, there were some questions that
needed to be answered.

First off, why in the world was there an intermission? This was
not a play or even a showing of “Gone With the Wind;”
this was supposed to be a rock ‘n’ roll concert.

Secondly, what was up with the night’s headliner, Badly
Drawn Boy? By intermission he had only played two songs from his
new album, “Have You Fed the Fish?” which had been
released stateside the preceding Tuesday, and his abrasive persona
left many audience members questioning whether he was funny or
simply a jerk. Was Badly Drawn Boy going to pull it together in the
second half of the show to prove himself the consummate rock star,
or would he flounder like a fake field-goal attempt on fourth and
seventeen during the fourth quarter?

Thankfully, the smoking, drinking British singer-songwriter
rocked in the end.

Badly Drawn Boy ““ backed by a full rock band, including a
bassist, drummer, keyboardist and supplementary guitarist ““
opened the post-intermission section of the show with a sweet
rendition of “The Shining,” the standout first track
from his debut, The Hour of Bewilderbeast, and continued on to
songs from the new album.

These songs elicited the highest energy from the band and, not
surprisingly, sounded the freshest. The title track was
particularly dynamic with its synthesized intro transitioning into
one of the hardest rockers of the night. “The Further I
Slide,” Badly Drawn Boy’s sexiest, most grooving song
to date, got the crowd’s hips shaking while Badly Drawn Boy
shook hands with people in the pit between verses.

After listing a number of musicians who have passed away in an
untimely manner, Badly Drawn Boy broke into his current single,
“You Were Right.” Like the title track and much of
“Fish,” “You Were Right” exhibits the fun
of Badly Drawn Boy’s sound and his playful lyrical style.

The big melodies and big guitar rock layering around Badly Drawn
Boy’s sweet and smooth voice buoyed up the second half of the
concert, capturing the fun, cheesy, ultimately uplifting tone of
“Fish.”

Badly Drawn Boy’s stage presence was defined by moments
like when he declared “Fish” the best album of the year
““ forget the others, he suggested. He stopped a song a little
way in only to respond to the audience’s impatience by
telling it that, while he knows it sounds great out there to the
audience, if he can’t hear himself singing, it can’t go
on. Near the beginning of the show, he asked the band members who
the press claimed he was dating most recently. Was it Gwenyth
Paltrow or Winona Ryder?

His cheeky sarcastic persona was heightened by the fact he
brought a drink on stage with him, both pre- and post-intermission,
and both he and the guitarist chain-smoked, a general no-no in the
health-conscious California venues.

Despite all this, he found time to bring out a picture of his
new son to show the audience. It’s this combination of
arrogant rocker/musician and ultra-sensitive lyricist ““ which
he pulls off so successfully ““ that makes his music worth
listening to.

And the whole show featured solid music ““ his
pre-intermission set included most of the material from his
“About A Boy” soundtrack, including a super
“Donna and Blitzen” and a kickin’ version of what
he introduced as his big hit “Silent Sigh.” For the
most part, the “Boy” songs were not as compelling as
they were on his tour earlier in the year ““ the
“Fish” tracks were appropriately the biggest highlights
as Badly Drawn Boy embraced his off-kilter rock star status.