AT only 18 years old, 90’s kid Jake Bugg transformed Glasgow’s 02 academy into a lager-fuelled-sing-a-long on Friday night.
Born Jacob Kennedy- the teen successfully ignored advice from friends to audition for Britain’s Got Talent instead playing the countless number of shows it took to get him noticed.
And notice is what he received from Glasgow as he plucked his way through a setlist of adolescent tunes very alike The Arctic Monkey’s immature tracks from their first album.
His unusual tone and likeable prematurity held the show altogether- a task in itself for a crowd as lary as they are proud.The rain pissing down outside, Bugg even manages to captivate the smokers. Granted some chose to illegally light up a fag indoors in honour of Two Fingers as he sings of cigarettes and alcohol.
Acoustic finger-picking lovingly reminiscent of The La’s- Bugg appeals to The View generation with his for-the-people tunes. And with a crowd significantly representative of every age group, Bugg’s influences as wide as Cash and Oasis help entertain through tracks Baby Blue and Seen It All.
The latter a clear favourite with the audience, the Nottingham-born lad belts out lyrics “One Friday night I took a pill or maybe two” in unison with the Glasgow crowd.
The show a perfect mix of acoustic solos and tracks with his two fellow band members, Bugg seldom interacts with the crowd admitting his happiness to play the Scottish city.
Lyrics “how could I have missed, something as simple as this” describe Bugg-mania in a nutshell. Simple lyrics, a boy and his guitar- the young man fantastically entertained the Glasgow crowd with a product perfectly placed in today’s music industry.
And what show ending with an emotional encore of Broken and a rendition of Johnny Cash’s Folsom Prison Blues could receive anything other than sheer joy? Bugg is most definitely one to look out for around the festival circuit this summer.
Edited by Nadine Walker
