Caught Live: Badly Drawn Boy @ UCL Bloomsbury Theatre, London

A decade has now passed since the permanently beanie-clad Damon Gough exploded onto the barren indie landscape with The Hour Of Bewilderbeast, one of the first truly great British records of the new century. Ten years that began in triumph as Gough scooped the millennial Mercury Music Prize have subsequently witnessed Badly Drawn Boy’s steady decline as a musical force, appearing to lack clear direction or narrative. So with new album It’s What I’m Thinking Pt.1 representing some of his best work since that bright dawn, Ragged Words arrived at The Bloomsbury with raised expectations.

Alone with an acoustic guitar, on came the customary headwear and back we went. Song one: album one, track one – ‘The Shining’. Stripped of its horn intro, it floated delicately around the theatre, encircling a silenced crowd as they reminisced in unison. An apparently fragile voice on record sounded clear and purposeful tonight, and note a single not was missed; expectations were duly raised even further.

Before we knew it, the likes of ‘You Were Right’, ‘A Minor Incident’ and the exceptional ‘Once Around The Block’ had us reconsidering whether Gough’s back catalogue was really all that patchy after all. But it wasn’t long before the well documented idiosyncrasies of BDB shows of old began to reappear. Engaging the crowd through bone-dry anecdotes, the enigmatic Northerner voiced his dislike (in no particular order of vitriol) for: a national supplier of electrical goods; his own song ‘Pissing In The Wind’; and, most worryingly of all, performing in front of people. Songs were soon started and discarded amid fits of semi-amusing petulance, while medleys of intros to much of his best-known material were simply strummed “to get them out of the way”.

As Gough was hitting top gear barely half an hour in, however, there was concern as to how the standard could be maintained. Such fears appeared vindicated as the title track from his latest LP kicked in: a song that meanders around aimlessly, it represents the definitive low-point of his new work. Ragged Words was sure the bubble had burst.

Thankfully – to borrow the title from another Badly Drawn Boy song – I was wrong. The best of the new stuff soon arrived, with ‘The Order Of Things’ and ‘In Safe Hands’ both sounding particularly at home in the company of established fan favourites. Following a ten-minute break, Gough retook the stage with full band in tow to launch into audience requests, as had been promised earlier in the evening.

Rousing versions of ‘Born In The UK’ and ‘Silent Sigh’ were delivered with gusto, propelled by a sterling rhythm section. The bearded one then reluctantly gave in to audience pleas and dispatched ‘Pissing in the Wind’. He clearly hadn’t been lying when he’d spoken of his hatred for this song: this was an unashamedly half-arsed rendition, and would have been a sorry way to close such a special night. Thankfully, then, Gough saw enough sense to return alone and reward us with the sublime ‘Magic in the Air’ – a far more fitting conclusion. Only it didn’t quite end there: Gough began telling us, apparently spontaneously, of where it had all begun for him, aged fourteen and listening to the radio. He told us of how a song had reached out to him across the airwaves, a song that had suddenly given him inspiration and a sense of purpose to do anything but stay where he was. Next thing we knew, we were all joining him singing about a screen door being slammed, and it was at this moment that even the most ardent doubters in the audience were forced to give thanks to The Boss.