Badly Drawn Boy enjoys success with awards, sell out tour and Martin Professional

The millennium has started well for singer/songwriter Badly Drawn Boy a.k.a. Damon Gough. His debut album, “The Hour of Bewilderbeast”, was recently awarded the Technics Mercury Music Prize for the best British album released this year, while Damon himself won this year’s prestigious Q Award for Best New Act.

Last month saw the acclaimed performer playing two sell-out shows at the Shepherds Bush Empire in London. The performances ended a thirteen date tour of the UK which was immediately followed by a promotional tour of North America.

The innovative lighting and stage effects for the tour were created by leading lighting designer, Rob Jones, who worked in conjunction with Bedfordshire based rental company Bandit Lites.

Using a combination of five MAC 250+, six MAC 300, one ImageScan, two Jem AF-1 fans and one Jem StageHazer and a handful of generic fixtures, Rob artfully worked his way through the set, which lasted two and a half hours. The evening broke off into uncharted territory several times as Damon lapped up the enthusiasm and success of the sell-out crowd.

With the relatively small number of fixtures at his disposal, Rob was able to use their extensive features to produce creative and dynamic looks for the entire show.

Enhancing the creative lighting set was the Jem StageHazer, which produced a perfect ambient haze for the shows. Touring guitar technician, Digby, who has twenty three touring years behind him, was particularly impressed by the machine mentioning how, unlike traditional units, the StageHazer could be used throughout the show without leaving a residue on any of the guitars, and more importantly, their strings.

Digby further commented, “The size and portability of the StageHazer is much better than the traditional cracked oil machines, which are often cumbersome on a tight stage area.”

The impressive combination of Badly Drawn Boy’s quirky, understated performance and the supporting stage effects made for a thoroughly successful start on this, his first major tour. Captured for a live webcast, the Shepherds Bush Empire show can be seen on the internet at www.i-gig.com.