I know only ten people in the world have ever bought a Badly Drawn Boy cd, but I am one of them.

I saw him in concert in San Francisco a few nights ago. A great show from one of my favorite songwriters. I even got the chance to complement him personally and he seemed very nice.

Apparently he had some issues in LA at the Troubadour, captured by this fan.

Who has not wanted to call the people of LA "twats" at some time or another?

http://www.guardian.co.uk...e-meltdown

Watching the video he is obviously having a bad night, but the crowd actually seems very supportive. He also seems to be maintaining something of a sense of humor when he clarifies that by "LA twats" he means "only the LA twats, not the LA nice people"

Hell, his hipster LA fans probably talk about "LA twats" as they drive to Hollywood to see him!

He was in really good spirits the night I saw him, but I think that was partly due to it being close to the end of the tour. I think maybe he is not cut out for touring.

If anyone cares to know who BDB is, here is one of his more famous tracks from the About a Boy soundtrack

Silent Sigh

Promises

NDRU said:

Watching the video he is obviously having a bad night, but the crowd actually seems very supportive. He also seems to be maintaining something of a sense of humor when he clarifies that by "LA twats" he means "only the LA twats, not the LA nice people"

Hell, his hipster LA fans probably talk about "LA twats" as they drive to Hollywood to see him!

He was in really good spirits the night I saw him, but I think that was partly due to it being close to the end of the tour. I think maybe he is not cut out for touring.

I read the comments from the article in the link and several pple say this wasn't his first time getting mad at sound engineers and the audience, that he's been doing it for yrs, so bad night or bad professionalism?

I love his first album and I think I have his first three but it seemed like with each new album his music got weaker.

I've met the guy on a few occasions and he's been extremely polite & down to earth, I know one of his friends who says the same thing about him. I think people need to cut him some slack with this episode, he's on tour & thousands of miles away from his family who he's missing like crazy. Staying in different motels rooms each night & travelling all day. Added to tour pressures are ignorant people who talk through his performance... it annoys me when it happens at a gig so imagine how frustrating it must feel for the artist.

rialb said:

I love his first album and I think I have his first three but it seemed like with each new album his music got weaker.

Every time I get a new album of his it takes a long time to get into. Particularly the first, I swear I listened off and on for years before I decided it was great.

But there always comes a time where I notice connecting to a new song emotionally, and it is so powerful.

The newest one is really low key, almost ambient, but very good. As are they all!

Essayvee said:

NDRU said:

Watching the video he is obviously having a bad night, but the crowd actually seems very supportive. He also seems to be maintaining something of a sense of humor when he clarifies that by "LA twats" he means "only the LA twats, not the LA nice people"

Hell, his hipster LA fans probably talk about "LA twats" as they drive to Hollywood to see him!

He was in really good spirits the night I saw him, but I think that was partly due to it being close to the end of the tour. I think maybe he is not cut out for touring.

I read the comments from the article in the link and several pple say this wasn't his first time getting mad at sound engineers and the audience, that he's been doing it for yrs, so bad night or bad professionalism?

He is definitely not your typical "rock star," in fact he is not a rock star at all. His music is incredibly sensitive. I think he is not really emotionally cut out for touring--that little things might send him over the edge. There is a reason he is not famous, and I think it has to do with his lack of interest or his lack of ability to tour & promote & be a more detached professional night after night.

That, and there is the possibility that he is a drinker

At the show I went to he seemed happy, and really sweet, but he did mention that he did not really like being away from his family.

pacey68 said:

I've met the guy on a few occasions and he's been extremely polite & down to earth, I know one of his friends who says the same thing about him. I think people need to cut him some slack with this episode, he's on tour & thousands of miles away from his family who he's missing like crazy. Staying in different motels rooms each night & travelling all day. Added to tour pressures are ignorant people who talk through his performance... it annoys me when it happens at a gig so imagine how frustrating it must feel for the artist.

He did seem incredibly nice, that made it odd to hear the profanities spewing forth

The articles are focusing on his "meltdown" and not the fact that he finished his show later and that some of the crowd said it was great, that he was apologising to the crowd all night, shaking hands with them one by one during the last song, that his criticizing was tinged with a sense of humor (he was cracking jokes through the whole show that I saw).

Still, I am glad that I saw the show that I saw, not the one in Hollywood

To be honest, I don't think he is having a "meltdown" people from up north in the UK have that kind of sense of humor...

andykeen said:

To be honest, I don't think he is having a "meltdown" people from up north in the UK have that kind of sense of humor...

Meltdown is a strong word. When I saw the video, he did seem to be in a bad mood, but he did seem to be joking to some extent, and the audience seemed to be laughing along with him

[Edited 12/21/10 12:44pm]

Badly Drawn Boy has apologised for shouting abuse at his crowd at a show in Los Angeles last week, after some crowd members started heckling. "I don't feel I owe an apology to those who heckled but I want to profusely apologise to those caught in the crossfire, especially a guy who had to leave with his young daughter and all of you who stuck by me to help turn things around," he said. [The Sun]

rialb said:

I love his first album and I think I have his first three but it seemed like with each new album his music got weaker.

I think his songs have gotten stronger, but the first album is probably the most interesting & creative.

He was on Soccer AM a few weeks back and seemed pretty jolly.

I went to a BDB gig years ago (for his second album i think) and it was the same thing.

It is actually common knowledge among BDB fans that his shows are erratic, more so in the past.

He was known to come on stage with a bottle of Jack Daniels and hurl abuse at engineers and fans alike, start songs and not finish them etc.

A bit like Cat Power, she used to be the same, her gig i attended was fucking awful, she was crying and everything.