An evening with Nottingham legend Jake Bugg forces Riley Halls Backler to answer the age old question: “were they ever good? Or did you just have to be there?”
Look, I have something to admit: I have never listened, nor did I even know of Jake Bugg before tonight. However you’d be inclined to think I was the only person in Nottingham who didn’t, as the city has beamed with anticipation for this massive tenth anniversary gig for his debut record since it’s announcement. As a Nottingham resident of nearly two years now, it felt almost sacrilege walking into Nottingham Arena completely blind, surrounded by Bugg’s face on posters and T-shirts, massive ‘SOLD OUT’ signs above me as I waltzed over to the guest list entrance just behind Jake’s own family. But I thought this might make for an interesting experiment, does Bugg’s debut record, heralded for its ‘authenticity and wit’, hold up to this day.
Well as a local radio presenter recounts Jake’s first performance at Radio Nottingham “twelve years near to the day, a young lad from Clifton with a guitar”, I feel an immense sense of accomplishment from the audience, a feeling I’d experience throughout the night. As Jake walks on stage with nothing but an acoustic guitar, it’s almost baffling watching Jake Bugg’s nonchalantly playing an arena as if it’s a pub gig, chatting to the crowd of thousands like he could count them on one hand. It’s endearing. It’s inspiring, and it’s almost tangible how proud the hometown crowd are.
"Cute gestures like bringing out children’s choirs and local rappers just made it feel like I was in the live audience for the recording of this years Children in Need. Was this it?"
Throughout the acoustic portion of the set, you’d be inclined to think Jake was a folk giant from the early seventies; asking for us to “love [him] the way [we] do”, as well as wanting and hoping “Saffron is doing fine”; whether you care or not, it’s interesting not to see a flashlight in sight throughout this early moment in the set. Me and You off of his second record is an early highlight, a brilliant folk-pop tune that properly highlights Bugg’s unique singing talent.
A brief interlude of interview clips and live recordings sends us straight into Jake’s debut album, played in reverse order as to have the one song I actually know be at the end, typical. Slide is another highlight for me, the big booming drums and acoustic guitar reminds me of something Will Young or Robbie Williams would’ve put out in the mid 00s. A meandering collection of album tracks begin to meld together, as what started as an interesting shake-up of genre and voice become what I can only describe as ‘2-3 minute bluegrass diddies’.
It was around then that I began to question if I was actually enjoying myself. Cute gestures like bringing out children’s choirs and local rappers just made it feel like I was in the live audience for the recording of this years Children in Need. Was this it? Is this what people were so enamoured by ten years ago? I’m pretty sure he hasn’t played Lightning Bolt yet, but I couldn’t be too sure. When it did finally roll around, I felt myself breathing a sigh of relief rather than excitement. The audience of thirty-something pint guzzlers did feel the need to whip out their phones for this iconic tune, which did get my foot tapping by the end.
But oh, it wasn’t the end. Another, more ambient interlude lead us into… greatest hits? Did he, not just do his greatest hit? Thirty minutes of songs from his later albums ranged from generic pop-rock, to more of the folk-pop goodness of the first section. And then… it ended. And I was sat left wondering the same question, is that it? I didn’t want this review to come off as overly negative, because Jake’s performance felt so natural and earnest, he deserved to be playing on a stage that big to that kind of audience. But then again, maybe that’s why Jake Bugg became such a smash hit at such an early age, his songs didn’t need to be more than the sum of their parts, they were simple folk songs with an interesting voice and set of lyrics over the top. So maybe you didn’t “just have to be there”, maybe you just needed to listen.
Riley Halls Backler
Edited by: Jodie Averis
Cover image courtesy of Tumblr.
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