Indie Rock Cafe: Badly Drawn Boy Kicks Off Three Month Tour in Manchester at Charity Concert

Badly Drawn Boy played to a full house in Manchester last night at a charity concert to kick-off his three-month tour of Europe and the United States.

- Listen/download Gough's MP3s instantly

The one man band is actually Damon Gough, a singer and songwriter who achieved recognition with a song on the 1997 celebrity-filled UNKLE LP Psyence Fiction. The following year, Gough, or Badly Drawn Boy, quickly ascended in the U.K. indie scene with the single "Once Around the Block," which was a marginal hit.

With the momentum rolling, Badly Drawn Boy (it's strange calling a guy by a name that sounds like it's a band), released Hour of Bewilderbeast, and the critics and music fans loved it. So much so that it won Britain's Mercury Prize for Best Album of 2000. That made BDB a big deal on the indie scene, and spread his music to the United States and elsewhere.

Sailing from the success of Hour of Bewilderbeast, Gough returned with the soundtrack for the movie About a Boy.

Most critics, movie goers and music lovers hailed the film, especially Gough's score. The exploration and experimentation of music that is the theme of the score reveals Gough as one of the most prolific and astonishing artists on the indie scene.

Amazon.com called the score "heads and shoulders above the vast majority of pop albums and soundtracks." Gough was also given credit for his dedication to capturing the essence of the original novel.

The Hour of Bewilderbeast is an amazing piece of work that should be in the music collection of a hard-core indie rock pop lover. The movie is pretty good too.

So, if you get a chance to see BDB, you'll witness an experience. Gough will be touring for three months sharing his musical genius with indie fans nationwide.

Listen or download:

All Possibilities [mp3]
I Was Wrong [mp3]

TOUR DATES

Jan 25 2007 - Frison, Fribourg
Jan 26 2007 - Backstage Werk, Munich
Jan 27 2007 - Gloria, Cologne
Jan 29 2007 - Kesselhaus, Berlin
Jan 20 2007 - Uebel & Gefahrlich, Hamburg
Jan 31 2007 - Paradiso, Amsterdam

FEBRUARY
Feb 11 2007 - Olympia, Dublin
Feb 12 2007 - Mandela Hall, Belfast
Feb 13 2007 - Queens Theatre, Edinburgh
Feb 15 2007 - Toff's (Chip Shop Gig), London
Feb 16 2007 - Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Feb 17 2007 - Magnet (Chip Shop Gig), London
Feb 17 2007 - St George's Hall, Bristol
Feb 19 2007 - City Varietes, Leeds
Feb 20 2007 - Sage Theatre, Gateshead
Feb 21 2007 - Smiths (Chip Shop Gig), Grimsby
Feb 23 2007 - Plaza, Stockport

MARCH
Mar 3 2007 - Theatre Of Living Arts, Philadelphia
Mar 5 2007 - Somerville Theatre, Boston
Mar 6 2007 - 9:30 Club, Washington DC
Mar 7 2007 - Webster Hall, New York
Mar 9 2007 - Majestic Theatre, Detroit
Mar 10 2007 - Metro, Chicago
Mar 11 2007 - Fine Line Music Café, Minneapolis
Mar 13 2007 - Exit/In, Nashville
Mar 14 2007 - The Loft, Atlanta
Mar 16 2007 - Stubbs (SXSW), Austin
Mar 18 2007 - Fox Theatre, Boulder
Mar 19 2007 - Urban Lounge, Salt Lake City
Mar 21 2007 - House of Blues, San Diego
Mar 22 2007 - El Rey Theatre, Los Angeles
Mar 23 2007 - Great American Music Hall, San Francisco
Mar 25 2007 - Aladdin Theatre, Portland
Mar 26 2007 - Neumo's, Seattle
Mar 27 2007 - Richards on Richards, Vancouver