“Thank you, thank you very much, er…” was the phrase heard repeatedly from the unbelievably humble, Jake Bugg. Seemingly unaffected by fame, this singer/ songwriter put on a beautiful acoustic set at The Leeds Grand Theatre.
So old school is his presentation, we may as well have been sitting in a country bar in 1930s USA listening to Bugg’s timeless voice. It is no wonder he has paved his way onto the indie scene, releasing four successful albums in the last four years at the young age of 24.
Supporting Bugg was fellow Nottingham musician ‘Georgie’. Understandable of this choice of support act was the fitting acoustic feel of her music, however, her repetitive and simplistic lyrics were somewhat unimpressive. Lyrics referencing herself in third person: ‘What would Georgie do?’ proved ineffective and really quite cringeworthy… This artist has been around for 6 years now, and I wonder if there’s hope of her lasting much longer.
Bugg opened his set with ‘Strange Creatures’, a song from his EP ‘Messed Up Kids’, and continued to play songs from a range of albums, old and new. After announcing he was going to play a cover, the crowd belted out a range of requests (one guy shouted ‘Wonderwall’ at least three times during the show, pushing Bugg to tell him “you know where the door is, mate”). What he did cover was ‘Wichita Lineman’ by Glen Campbell, a song that seemed unfamiliar to the audience but was appreciated all the same.
Bugg modestly ended the show telling the crowd he was still surprised and very grateful for the turnout to his shows. Generously singing on till gone 10pm, he concluded his performance with ‘Lightning Bolt’ (of course). I can safely say I have made the transition from having a fair appreciation of Bugg to a major fangirl after hearing that his sweet vocals were even more impressive live than on his records.