Jake Bugg – Brighton Centre – 22^nd October 2013

Having lived with his album for a year or so I was intrigued about how Jake Bugg’s mix of acoustic troubadour and 21^st Century echo of Johnny Cash’s boom-chicka-boom approach would translate live. It’s striking that Jake has attracted possibly the most mixed audience that I’ve seen: from people old enough to be his parents and grandparents to children. There’s quite a bit of pre-pubescent screaming. The beer boys are out in force too, notwithstanding it being a Tuesday.

Jake has chosen a stripped-back format consisting of just himself and a bassist and drummer. Truthfully that’s all that’s required as the performance is far more powerful than on record. The vocals are particularly impressive with Jake uncompromisingly sticking it to the X Factor and Brit School crew. I don’t know what Simon Cowell would say.

New album “Shangri La” isn’t released until 18^th November, but Jake plays a hefty chunk of it nonetheless. Storm Passes Away is pretty damn country and includes the somewhat telling line: “They keep telling me that I’m older than I’m supposed to be”. For newie Messed Up Kids Jake dons a Telecaster. This may be unexpected by some (they clearly haven’t listened to What Doesn’t Kill You) but it works well. During The Ballad Of Mr Jones, Jake (now with a Stratocaster) plays a short but accomplished blues solo, as if he’s been doing just that for the past forty or fifty years.

The electric guitars are left behind however for a solo acoustic rendition of Country Song and Pine Trees (from the new album). Country Song in particular is beautifully delicate. The beer boys, stripped to the waist, don’t get it. They look confused. They want Lightning Bolt.

The rhythm section return as do the electric guitars. Taste It in particular is pretty scorching. Mr Bugg looks like a man embarking on a serious love affair with the electric guitar. This is by no means a bad thing.

After set closer What Doesn’t Kill You Jake returns with a solo acoustic Broken, followed by a full band cover of Neil Young’s My My Hey Hey / Hey Hey My My (reversing the order of the original). The Bugg Band very much give Crazy Horse a run for their money. Then the beer boys get what they want with Lightning Bolt.

Seemingly it’s now not the done thing to play new material in advance of an album’s release, so perhaps Jake is brave to play half a dozen new songs, but when they’re of such good quality, why wait? What was on display tonight was a multi-faceted talent with a capital ‘T’. Jake Bugg is only just beginning to spread his wings. It’s going to be one helluva flight!

                                                                                                                                    Mark Kelly