Review: Jake Bugg @ Manchester Academy
The Nottingham lad defies his years with an accomplished live show
Thursday 14th February 2013 - Jake Bugg @ Manchester Academy
It’s been a phenomenal past year for 18-year-old Jake Bugg. The unassuming looking Nottingham lad only released his debut single ‘Trouble Town’ last March and since then he’s topped the charts with his self-titled debut album, released a string of insanely catchy, chart-denting singles, toured with the likes of Noel Gallagher and The Killers and been hailed as the future of British guitar music by critics. It was no surprise then that when his sprawling UK was announced last autumn, tickets were snapped up faster than Usain Bolt out of the blocks.
After negotiating a tirade of ticket touts, we finally made it into a rammed-to-the-rafters Manchester Academy to see whether Jake could live up to the hype and recreate his musical alchemy live. With a confidence that defies his tender years, the impossibly young looking Jake strode on stage to a thunderous welcome before launching into the infectious ‘Fire’ as plastic pint cups showered through the air.
From the offset it was clear that tonight’s show wouldn’t be about gimmicks, on-stage theatrics or hilarious banter; instead, almost workmanlike, Jake and his band dispatched his everyday anthems with astonishing accuracy as the infatuated (surprisingly mixed age) crowd echoed back the lyrics with fervour.
At times like a musical amalgam of Arctic Monkeys and Bob Dylan, the gig was packed with early zeniths from the scintillating tale of rundown communities, ‘Trouble Town’, to the melodious ‘Simple As This’ and ‘The Country Song’. Jake even found time for some poignancy, when stripped of his band; he performed a beautiful rendition of ‘Someone Told Me’ under a spotlight.
Despite the consistent brilliance of the show, Jake undoubtedly saved the best until last in the shape of scintillating triple-whammy of the brain-naggingly catchy ‘Two Fingers’, epic new single ‘Taste It’ and the suitably electric ‘Lightning Bolt’. Only Jake’s final encore song – a stunning cover of the Johnny Cash classic ‘Folsam Prison Blues’ – managed to reach these same heights.
True, if Jake Bugg’s career continues on a skyward trajectory he’ll have to up his live spectacle to fill those cavernous arenas. However, for now, the sublime tunes are more than enough.