Nottingham’s very own troubadour Jake Bugg celebrated the tenth anniversary of his self-titled debut album at Motorpoint Arena...
With a full house, Bugg’s set was formulaic and cut down into different sections: an intimate acoustic session, followed by his debut in its entirety, and lastly a more up-tempo finale with surprise guests.
Bugg comes onto stage and gives us a wave, with few words, delving straight into his songs Strange Creatures, Saffron, Southern Rain. His unique nasally vocals were in full effect, and any Bob Dylan fans would hear the likeness.
With a single spotlight and no backing band, the crowd was hushed but buzzing. Soon enough, his band joined him to play another five songs, all in the same folk-ballad style, before taking a break and leaving the stage.
Chatter rose from the audience while a recording of Bugg’s voice played over the speakers. Clips of him reminiscing about how it felt to play Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage in 2013, joking about how he actually hates festivals because of all the mud.
Bugg returned to the stage, a little more spirited now, gearing up to play his debut. He cracks us a smile and says that he’s never actually played the album in its entirety before and he’s going to play it through backwards – leaving his hits Two Fingers and Lightning Bolt until the end.
Bugg’s rugged voice was crystal clear over the bluesy twang of his guitar. He belted Broken with the backing of the Queen Elizabeth School choir, which of course was met by a heart-warming applause.
The night rose to a crescendo when Two Fingers and Lightning Bolt were played, cups thrown into the air, some of the crowd up on each other’s shoulders, and the stands jolting under everyone’s feet.
Another timely break, and Bugg came back with a different sound – less acoustic focused as he switched between different types of electric guitar, which I’m not sure landed as successfully in this second half.
Slumville Sunrise, Kingpin and What Doesn’t Kill You, all from his second album Shangri La, gave a more Brit-pop, rock-inspired sound.
He was joined by Joy for the finale of All I Need and gave us a gracious goodbye at the end, after slightly rushing over the 35 songs he played.
Ten years of the release of his debut made for a unique and intimate gig, with it being the first time he’d ever played the album in full.
Bugg, notoriously a man of few words was sentimental with the crowd, saying “I didn’t think after ten years people would still be here” and “you don’t know how mad it is to stand here and hear you singing [my songs] back to me”.
Though his energy did not match that of the audience, he still cracked a few smiles and had a giggle with us. His performance was solid, and the response from the crowd was mainly generated from his older material.
If you weren’t big on Jake Bugg before, his seamless performance at Motorpoint Arena should sway you.
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