But I digress. On with the battle. Who will win? Let's find out.
In the red corner:
The support act was LeRoy Bell And His Only Friends. These guys were pretty good. Some good songs, some not so good. LeRoy himself had a strong, smooth voice that was a pleasure to listen to.
The audience of this gig was crazy! They were totally up for it, and were dancing vigorously through the support act, and even while the DJ filled before India came on stage. They were even singing along to the DJ's records. It was a great atmosphere, and felt very friendly.
India Arie came in with huge hair, sunglasses, and a posh frock. She looked like a soul diva. But within a minute she dumped all that stuff (the original hair was a wig :) ) and was getting on with it. The show was kind of theatrical in places and somehow very BIG - more performance than I expected. She stopped frequently to talk to the audience, about all kinds of crazy stuff like how she met Nelson Mandela, and how she had been late to the gig because of an upset stomach :) And the music was awesome. She has a fantastic voice of course, but the song arrangements were funked up a bit and the rhythms were infectious. Everyone in the Commodore seemed to be having a lot of fun - on and off the stage - which was great. She even finished with Ready For Love which is my favourite. What can I say. Top! I was relieved too that Steph really enjoyed it, as I kind of talked her into going...
...and in the blue corner:
Badly Drawn Boy actually had two support acts: Lizzie and Adem (sorry no link for Lizzie - I can't find anything on the internet). Lizzie was a solo singer/songwriter from the US who had some really catchy tunes and a knockout voice - kind of Jenny Lewis crossed with a bit of K.T. Tunstall. I enjoyed her set a lot. Adem also had talent, but his songs were often slow and kind of morose, and generally seemed to bring down the atmosphere a bit. He was at his best when he upped the tempo a little. He also kept telling everyone to be quiet so he could be heard - what planet are you from, mate? The jury is out on this guy.
The main event was interesting. I felt it started off pretty workmanlike, with Damon and his band scooting from one song into the next with barely a pause or a hello. Then he started making a mistake or two, and I guess he felt he needed to explain things, and pretty soon he was telling us how this was the last night of the tour and that he was exhausted and missed his family, and all sorts of stuff. He also seemed to be in a melancholy mood and mentioned some friends and family who had recently died. Anyway, it felt like the audience got much more into the whole thing after he started to talk to them so honestly, and he seemed to enjoy it more too. The performance just got better and better from there, and there were some superb tracks amongst the many he played (it was around 2.5 hours in all!). I have to say I am not the biggest fan of Badly Drawn Boy, but nevertheless I was thoroughly entertained.
And the winner is....
India Arie. For me personally, anyway. She surprised me by giving a lavish and heartfelt stage performance, and the whole atmosphere of the gig (due in large part to the crowd) was second to none. Respect due. But Badly Drawn Boy was a pretty close second - call it a points decision.
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