Vista Love?

As an avid Badly Drawn Boy fan for the last half decade or so, I was looking forward to finally catching a live set from the British songwriter responsible for the soundtrack to "About a Boy."

Damon Gough, a.k.a. Badly Drawn Boy, cemented a place in my musical heart via an eclectic but at times disengaging set at the House of Blues last Wednesday.

An insider friend tipped me off about the set times and warned me that BDB planned to play a two-hour set, so I rationed my energy and showed up just as the final opener trailed offstage.

The small crowd huddled close as the perpetually-beanied Gough took the stage following his touring band.

After Gough said, "We’re going to play a whole lot of new songs first to get them out of the way," the band launched into tracks from the 2006 release "Born in the UK," which Gough admitted was a tribute to Bruce Springsteen.

Highlights included "Journey from A to B" and an instrumental version of "Welcome to the Overground," which was "too difficult to play live."
The night was chock full of anecdotes preceding songs and complaints from the band about monitor sound.

I personally have never been a fan of the sound quality at the HOB, and this opinion was solidified as members of the band continually asked the sound board for decreased volume.

Audio problems and the recent death of his grandfather may have contributed to Gough’s mood swings throughout the show, which featured wry jokes, poignant stories, smoking onstage and angry shouts at those talking through the sets.

After a slick transition from "Like a Virgin" into "Silent Sigh," Gough stopped mid-song to the surprise of his bandmates saying, "I hate playing that song, so I won’t."

Regardless of Gough’s attitude, his performance was solid musically, and I was thrilled to hear an intro about Santa for "Donna and Blitzen" as well as the stories behind some of my favorites like "This Is That New Song," which is about the death of a friend.

A good chunk of the crowd filtered out early as the set moved into its third hour, but these deserters missed out on a whale of an encore topped off by a 10-minute cover of "Don’t Stop Believin’" as Gough wandered through the crowd. For a Steve Perry cover, I can forgive Gough’s cranky comments.