Live Review: Jake Bugg, Drunk Mums

The venue is packed an hour before Jake Bugg is due to take the stage - punters who missed out on seeing Bugg perform at Splendour In The Grass are clearly not going to miss out on this chance to see the Nottingham teen live. The sold-out sideshow consists of all types, from beanie-toting hipsters to middle-aged men in suits. First up, though, Drunk Mums bring their brand of head-bangingly infectious rock to the party. They play garagey punk and they play it well, leading to some impromptu dancing in the front rows.

Jake Bugg is slight and unassuming, with a twang in his singing voice that seems to hark back to an American upbringing rather than one in the middle of the UK. The influences of Johnny Cash and Hendrix are obvious, as well as the British ones: Donovan and The Beatles, among others. He doesn't cite Bob Dylan as a major influence, but his music feels like early Dylan, especially in terms of the complex songwriting.

Whether it's due to residual tiredness from Splendour or a deliberate choice, Bugg is close-lipped between songs. Apart from a brief, “Hello, Melbourne,” he doesn't pause to banter or chat, preferring instead to offer song names in a soft voice and switch guitars (upwards of four guitars are in use). Perhaps it's his lack of outward expression and acknowledgement of the audience, but each song garners a louder cheer than the last. The ballads in the middle of the set, including Slide and Broken, are particularly moving. With white light pouring onto him, he seems almost angelic, ethereal, and it's easy to imagine that he forgoes excess outward emotion in favour of pouring his soul into his music. The 19-year-old burns through his material fairly quickly due to the lack of filler, playing a tidy 12 songs in the hour-long set, but there are no complaints from the crowd, who seem more than content to enjoy, snap photos and occasionally sing along (Broken is a particular crowd favourite, as is the set opener, Fire). 

He encores with a cover of Neil Young's My My, Hey Hey (Out Of The Blue), which is an interesting choice – “It's better to burn out than to fade away,” are lyrics that seem particularly striking for such a young performer to be singing. The experience is best summed up by a man standing nearby: “I'm 25. What am I doing with my life?” If you don't mind feeling hopelessly old, Jake Bugg is a must see.