I feel like my taste in music has remained pretty stagnant over the last few years. Leaving college and the radio station behind didn’t do it, as cd-burning mania struck just after I graduated, and kept new music flowing into my life for the next few years. Maybe I’m just not paying attention as closely before, or I just don’t get excited about what’s out there, but either way, I feel like I’ve been listening to the same bands, going to see the shows by the same people, for six or seven years now, and that’s actually fine by me. Gettin’ old. Oh well.

One of those people I’ve been listening to is Badly Drawn Boy, a.k.a. Damon Gough, who just missed his goal of putting out an album every year, but has come close and is touring behind his new album, Born in the U.K.. Aimee and I have been going to see him play since 2000 (the 2003 and 2004 shows recounted here), and he always entertains with his combination of sincerity and thin-skinned bluster. I was gung-ho about his two shows at the Troubadour, LA’s answer to the Paradise, with its Ticketmaster-less ticketing system and intimate space, so I bought tickets to both shows. When the time came to use them, though, I was sick and jet-lagged, so I sold the first night’s tickets to a couple of grateful fans in line before the show, and Aimee and I returned for the next night’s show. We really enjoyed the concert, especially after the two drunk girls behind us stopped taking pictures of themselves and asking if Damon as from England, and moved elsewhere. I hadn’t bought the new album yet, but he’s the sort of performer you can appreciate even if you’re not familiar with the music; it’s well-written,catchy stuff. He played a surprisingly long set, and closed with his rambling, heartfelt cover of “Thunder Road,” which we’d never heard performed live before.