GIG NUMBER ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY
Who
I'd got my ticket months in advance and without any hassle, as the shows gradually sold out and Jake ultimately confirmed three nights at Birmingham Academy. The hype just seemed to build and build though and he eventually announced a 2014 date at Nottingham Arena, but tickets were on sale for ages and anyone with their finger remotely on the pulse had ample opportunity to buy, as the third night took a while to sell. I got the album to prepare and heard through it a good few times, but to be honest it never particularly caught my imagination, and my attention was so firmly focused towards my holidays I would have been amazed if this show came close. On the day I'd been playing Perfect Day a lot to mark the passing of Lou Reed and there was a massive fuss about an impending storm, which as usual made no effect at all on the West Midlands besides it being a bit chilly. I kept things simple by popping home for a chip shop tea and chose to wear my classic Furrymania SFA t-shirt, deviating from my routine a bit to visit a pub within walking distance of my home as I'd discovered that they sold Maisel's Weisse, which was an incredibly unlikely but hugely welcome turn of events, even if the staff ruined it a little by dumbly asking if I wanted a glass, then not having the correct one handy and giving me a half pint glass for some reason. It was still a fabulous beer though, and I followed this by completely killing myself off with a small bottle of Kasteel Rouge, which was a near-undrinkable fruit beer which somehow had cost over £5. This may have been for the best though as now I could focus on the music rather than being distracted with drink!
As I'd ventured into town later than usual I discovered that there was a super off peak cheap ticket into Birmingham, and although doors had opened at 7pm I'd felt relaxed enough about being a little late. Once I arrived though there were lots of people outside and I had no idea what was going on, being ushered towards a queue with no explanation and I just stood there. After the longest time - with almost no-one else going inside - someone eventually explained that there was a major problem with fake tickets for tonight, before taking the time to view my ticket and deciding that it had been fine all along and I hadn't needed to queue anyway. I do wonder if all these poor people managed to see the show in the end, and maybe I should just be glad that I got inside ok and ultimately that this made no negative effect on my evening. Unusually under 14s were allowed into the show - albeit with adults - and the crowd were quite a mix between young and old so I didn't feel out of place, although the skew was quite heavily towards guys. I headed in towards the right side and the support band were already onstage, and as far as I can gather they were a duo called HoneyHoney. They were basically a girl with a violin backed by a guy, but they were no Gogol Bordello, and as I was quite far back they made little impact on me. Their efforts to engage with the crowd - by calling us a good audience - seemed to go down nicely enough, but I'm afraid to say that they have to join my endless list of harmless but totally forgettable support bands. Once they finished the crowd parted a little and I gradually edged forwards out of the reach of the hated balcony, my job being easier due to everyone deciding to pop to the loo or get more drinks, their lack of control costing them dearly as there was surprisingly little pushing taking place for a show such as this, which had clearly more than sold out. The balcony was jam-packed too.
However the crowd did have a bit of a twattish element, and two guys near me were making fools of themselves by mouthing off about everyone around them. However, the dirty looks they were getting were just as rude as the original crime in my book, and the older woman next to me eventually wandered off to find someone in security who managed to kick them out! Maybe this was a bit over the top from all concerned, but the real crimes of pushing, fighting and beer-throwing thankfully didn't affect me all evening. No time was wasted in setting up the stage, which was backed by the Jake Bugg banner which you can see in the photo above. I'd forgotten to bring my camera and failed to charge my phone therefore I was careful not to go too crazy, but did manage to take a few photos ok as the evening progressed. Before Mr Bugg came on was an anonymous mix of music, broken up with Waterfall, which was distressingly overshadowed by the sing along to Champagne Supernova, a song I considered passé back in 1996! Maybe not all these guys had got the memo that The Stone Roses had utterly beaten the shit out of Oasis to the mantle of Manchester's equivalent of The Beatles, a fact that even Liam Gallagher seems to agree with! The lights then went down and Jake Bugg came onstage with There's A Beast And We All Feed It, the opener from his second album Shangri La, out the next month. This was followed with Trouble Town, Seen It All and Simple As This from his debut. However I was finding it very difficult to engage with the show. In fact there barely seemed to be a moshpit so clearly a lot of people were here to check out the hype, or simply weren't prepared to totally lose themselves to an artist who was just starting out.
Jake Bugg had a very simple set-up of his backdrop then a drummer and bassist with him, and much like his album cover he wore a twattish scowl on his face for much of the show, only briefly offering glimpses of a smile when caught off-guard by an audience remark. It's a shame as a bit of charisma and cheer would have made him easier to engage with. There were some chants for him to smile, and the crowd showed their level by predictably pointing two fingers towards the stage in time to the song, with the only element of free thinking being which way round to point the fingers. That's the downside of writing a lyric like that though, but it was still his second best song after Lightning Bolt. There was some enthusiasm including a few people jumping on each others shoulders, and I was pleased to see the guy who threw a Carling can forwards was roundly condemned and apologised accordingly - both for his terrible choice of beer and for throwing a can I hope! There were plenty of fans shooting video and even some checking/updating the setlist website as we went along. The chant of "there's only one Jake Bugg" and the few flashing lights were also hopelessly uninspired, and perhaps the most positive thing I can say about the music was that this was a rare Birmingham show that hadn't been spoiled by the sound quality in the venue. In fact it was decent enough all night! The setlist was quite acceptable too, with a pleasing mix of new and old songs, with the mid-set peak of Country Song.
The thing to really get excited over with Jake Bugg is when you consider how he fuses together his influences, including George Formby, Arctic Monkeys and Johnny Cash. However he just doesn't add anything new to the mix, and there simply was nothing here a fraction as exciting as Arctic Monkeys had been when they'd started out. It feels like a case of him being exciting and interesting on paper, but in reality it all falls a little flat. Maybe if he worked on engaging with the audience a bit and writing some stone cold classic tunes things could yet change, and then I'll look back on this show more fondly. Prove me wrong Jake, prove me wrong! The Strypes had felt far more vibrant and exciting - although they had the added bonus of playing a small venue with a more reasonable level of anticipation to reflect their talent - and perhaps The Vaccines show the way forwards, as they seemed much better by the third time I saw them, despite not particularly changing anything. The songs here kind of mixed into one - Taste It stood out a bit - and also there was one good particularly loud song towards the end of the main set, possibly Slumville Sunrise. However I must come back to the meat and potatoes analogy, this set was really hard to get excited by. Jake left the stage before returning for the encore. The encore was absolutely the peak, as the advantage of seeing someone so early in their career is that you can be much more confident that they will play all the hits.
He even went a bit Arcade Fire with the sing along during Broken, before covering Neil Young with My My, Hey Hey (Into The Black), a song that Half Man Half Biscuit have quoted from, hence it rang a bit of a bell. There really was only one way to finish though, and Jake's attitude to his biggest hit was the nicest element of his show. Firstly he let us sing the opening lines and started off slowly, then even injected in a bit of showmanship by inserting some fantastic little breaks before the guitar solos. If he's still around in five years I'd expect him to be grudgingly tossing off this song, so to see it done properly and with such passion was the undisputed highlight of the evening. He left the stage to a warm reception, and clearly had managed to melt some hearts tonight. He'd played twenty songs, which was quite decent, but still had finished in good time for me to head back home. Ten out of the 14 songs from the debut had been played tonight, with strangely the last four songs on the album being the ones kicked out of the set, despite their actually being quite good. Maybe I'm a bit harsh, but seeing Jake Bugg for me was more of a box ticking exercise than an exciting night out, and listening to some Stone Roses on the way back really put things in perspective. I guess Heaton Park has changed everything for me, and set a near-impossible standard for other (fairly) conventional acts to attempt to follow. Still, I wish him all the best, and he may yet surprise me by writing some more unbelievable tunes.
Mark: 6.5/10
Jake Bugg
Support
HoneyHoney
Where
Birmingham O2 Academy
When
28th October 2013
Price
£17.50
Who with
No-one
Position
Towards the back
Comments
Almost four months after my last show - The Rolling Stones! - and after two holidays to Austria/Switzerland then Morocco/Gibraltar I returned to the gigging circuit with Jake Bugg. Usually October is a very busy month for shows but in 2013 there was very little of interest. I became aware of Jake Bugg through the hype, initially around Lightning Bolt being played before the 100m Final at the London Olympics - not that I even noticed - and then his album coming out of nowhere to reach number one. In particular I remember his name being draped proudly all over Nottingham Council House when I was there for The Killers, but I was a bit sceptical as he seemed more than a bit stereotypical, and his album cover seemed to scream "I am a meat and potatoes guy playing unoriginal music, and am a bit of a dick too". If I'd been his publicist I'd had told him to smile more and show some charisma, but clearly his strategy is working. It even worked on me as I was quite happy to see him, but I thought Lightning Bolt was a decent song and it would have been rude not to give him a chance, especially as I'd done such a good job seeing the latest creditable acts over 2013, although most just happened to be there in supporting slots. Jake Bugg himself even supported The Stone Roses and The Rolling Stones, but I attended other shows instead. I do need to ask though why there was any controversy over him saying he was keeping X Factor shit out of the charts, as I find it hard to believe anyone needs to be told it is shite. However, we live in a crazy world, so maybe people do need these things pointing out to them?
Setlist
There's A Beast And We All Feed It
Trouble Town
Seen It All
Simple As This
Storm Passes Way
Two Fingers
Messed Up Kids
Ballad Of Mr Jones
Country Song
Pine Trees
Song About Love
Slide
Green Man
Kingpin
Taste It
Slumville Sunrise
What Doesn't Kill You
Broken
My My, Hey Hey (Into The Black)
Lightning Bolt
