Jake Bugg Live @First Direct Arena, Leeds. 19.10.14.

Rating:

It seems Jake Bugg has been around for ages now, and that’s due to his inevitably never-ending rise in the world of music. On Sunday evening, he graced Leeds’ First Direct Arena with his presence. But was it what he had expected?

Only if you’ve had your head in the sand for a good couple of years now would you be unaware of the Nottingham ‘teen-turn-star’ and his immensely successful debut album (self-titled) and follow-up (Shangri La).

As the lights are dimmed, Bugg strolls onto the stage and the opening chords of ‘Messed Up Kids’ echo around the room, leaving people with a sudden feeling of enlightenment after an encounter with the dreary Northern-English weather outside. As the jaunty opener comes to a close, the well-established first album track ‘Seen It All’ follows. Perhaps one of the most appealing aspects of Bugg is his extremely lively choruses in nearly every one of his tracks, and both of these tracks opening his set at the Leeds arena possess this, allowing a nicely poised opening to the show.

The First Direct Arena soon becomes aware of just how strong Jake Bugg’s arsenal of songs actually is. As the middle ground of the show approaches, the crowd have witnessed the likes of personal favourite, ‘Trouble Town’, ‘Me And You’, extremely successful (and rightly so) ‘Two Fingers’ and Shangri La opener ‘There’s A Beast And We All Feed It’.

The middle of the set then undoubtedly drops down a notch, the dark and mysterious ‘Ballad Of Mr. Jones’ entering the mix, telling the story of an unfortunate soul who finds himself at the scene of a crime – sadly the events that follow don’t get much better for this persona. One thing that we don’t necessarily get to appreciate in Jake’s studio products is his talents on electric guitar – let me tell you, the lad can play.

As he returns to his acoustic, the crowd begin to enter the world of his more “down to earth” material so to speak, with songs such as ‘Country Song’, ‘A Song About Love’, new song ‘Hold On You’ and also ‘Simple Pleasures’, keeping the show flowing rather nicely.

Suddenly the beat begins to quicken and the dynamic ‘Kingpin’ begins, taking the show back to the pace and volume in which it started. ‘Taste It’ soon follows, keeping the groove going strong.

Arguably the most successful track from Bugg’s second album rumbles around the arena; ‘Slumville Sunrise’ somewhat brings the show to its peak with its insanely cool riffs, charismatic chorus and blistering solos. It must be said that Bugg, having played the slot before Arctic Monkeys at this year’s Reading and Leeds festivals, as well as playing Glastonbury yet again this year, could easily be imagined headlining these places at some point in the future if he continues to produce music of this quality.

The set soon comes to a close, however before it reaches its end, a beautiful performance of the rather emotional and heart-tugging ‘Broken’ occurs, as does the phenomenal ‘Lightning Bolt’, and Bugg exits the stage. Not to return…

That’s right, no encore? Leaving tracks such as ‘Slide’ and the brilliant ‘What Doesn’t Kill Ya’ not being seen. It must be said however, the crowd didn’t give Jake all the appreciation he was due – rather stale I must say (no offence to anyone who is reading this and who was in the crowd!). After seeing Bugg play the Manchester Apollo last November, it’s clear there was a HUGE difference. Perhaps the size of venue could have also played a pivotal role in this… Although Jake Bugg is undoubtedly an outstanding artist and musician, is he actually ready to hit the arenas just yet? Yes, he sounded top-notch, but there’s also a lot of other aspects that much be considered in an arena show.

Saying that, Jake Bugg played sublimely through a seventeen song set-list, nailing every single track.

James Cummins.

@CummyBear

James Cummins

James Cummins

James Cummins

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