Live Review: Jake Bugg

One the songs played early on in Jake Bugg's set, Strange Creatures, pretty much sums up tonight's crowd - pissed and rowdy, overwhelming the extraordinary solo artist on stage accompanying himself on guitar. And The Croxton is so packed that the only way we can actually see Bugg is via other people's raised smartphones.

Bugg's songwriting chops are unparalleled and his wistful timbre is perfectly replicated in a live setting as demonstrated during Simple As This. There seems to be a lot of drunken backpackers in the house, singing loudly in a tone-deaf fashion, which is incredibly annoying for those who came along to hear Bugg. He introduces Trouble Town, pointing out it was his first UK single, and it's clear Bugg just had it from the get-go. How about this song's glorious closing lyrics? "Stuck in speed bump city/Where the only thing that's pretty/Is the thought of getting out" - so poetic!

A punter yells out to Bugg, "Are you drunk?" He replies, "Am I drunk? No, I'm a bit tipsy." Bugg deals with yelled-out comments/questions wonderfully throughout the night, always repeating back the question for those who may have missed it. Another punter down front requests the swoon-worthy A Song About Love and Bugg confesses he hasn't played the song so far during this tour. He obliges, though, and we're ever so glad he did! Those beautiful sustained notes of longing break our collective hearts. He fucks up some lyrics and then laughs, apologising, but we're all already on board. After this song, Bugg observes, "Like a constant reminder I just wanna find where you are - that's the lyric." A punter hollers something. "I wrote it, I know! I just can't remember it. I'll Google it later," Bugg responds. 

He then tackles a cover of Neil Young's Old Man, the lower vocal parts are stellar, he struggles with the upper register, but is still just so damn endearing that we're happy to let him off the hook. Despite the obnoxious crowd, Bugg enthuses, "Thanks very much, by the way, I'm enjoying myself tonight," before the foot-stompin', head-noddin' Slumville Sunrise, which is killer.

Our encore is Broken, which Bugg sings for the third time this evening (after a false start earlier on in the night due to chatty punters breaking his conversation) and there's much shooshing before the most voracious out-of-tune singing drowns out his voice of an angel as bro-hugs fill the venue. Bugg finishes with one of his upbeat stompers, Lightning Bolt, and he does extremely well given the level of inebriation of those in attendance.