On Monday 4th April, I finally enjoyed my first night out of live music in 2022, in which I saw the incredible singer-songwriter, Jake Bugg, at the O2 Guildhall in Southampton.
I’ve been a fan of Jake Bugg since he burst onto the music scene back in 2012, which he reminded the crowd was 10 years ago – that made me feel old. I first saw him live on the main stage at the Reading Festival in 2014 but it has taken me almost eight years to see Jake Bugg perform a show in my home county of Hampshire.
Despite it being a Monday night, this tour was called the Saturday Night, Sunday Morning Tour, named after Jake’s latest album, which was released in August 2021. I admit I’ve only listened to this album a handful of times before the gig and so wasn’t familiar with all the songs on the setlist.
However, the performance was amazing with a mixture of electric guitar headbangers, acoustic sing-alongs and beautiful ballads.
Jake opened the show with Lost from the new album, which was a song I wasn’t particularly sure would sound good at an alternative rock gig but it sounded fab with the live instruments and got the crowd pumping.
Jake went on to play nine more tracks from the new album – Kiss Like The Sun, Downtown, About Last Night, Scene, Screaming, Maybe It’s Today, Lonely Hours, Hold Tight and All I Need – which were all fantastic, full of energy, power and emotion.
What amazed me the most was when Jake performed Screaming – which includes lines such as “Everyone’s out for the kill”, “Doin’ it just for the thrill”, “Dreaming, and I don’t know how to stop”, “Don’t know how to stop” and “Can you hear me?” – the stage lighting was in the Ukrainian colours of blue and yellow.
I might be reading too much into this but it made me think the lyrics were Ukrainian voices seeking help and refuge from the war against Russia and dreaming of peace and the lights were symbolising the Ukraine flag. However, I could’ve been completely wrong and it was just a coincidence.
Jake also played some classic songs from his earlier albums including Lightning Bolt, Slumville Sunrise, Seen It All, Simple As This, Simple Pleasures and What Doesn’t Kill You, which were nice and familiar and great fun to sing along to.
I was also surprised to find Jake playing songs from previous albums that I wasn’t aware of. I’ll be honest the only albums I’ve listened to are his self-titled – and best – debut album, his second album Shangri La and his latest album.
Thankfully I wasn’t disappointed and each song – Burn Alone, Saviours of the City, The Man On Stage and Habits – sounded remarkable and stunning.
We also got the rare chance to hear a brand new track never heard or performed before, which I always think is a brave move at a live gig for an established artist. My first thought on the track – Seventh Bridge Road – was that it was a nice upbeat number with a groovy guitar riff. It will be released on 14th April 2022.
Had a great time playing this new tune on tour. Seven Bridge Road is out on Thursday 14 April. Pre-save it now from https://t.co/lxKRoRMN6Y. Jake. pic.twitter.com/SpFAVtmjsM
— Jake Bugg (@JakeBugg) April 7, 2022
My highlight of the night was of course hearing and singing along to my two favourite Jake Bugg songs – Two Fingers and Broken. Two Fingers was Jake’s second single off his first album. I love how much I relate to this song (not literally the drinking, smoking and fighting) but saying goodbye to the negative past and “hold two fingers up to yesterday”. I enjoyed holding two fingers and dancing to this song. I couldn’t see if anyone else was holding two fingers but I hope others were too.
Broken is another song off Jake’s debut album. It’s a beautiful, moving and touching song that sounded mind-blowing when he performed it at Reading Festival. I wasn’t expecting the song to be on the setlist for this tour but I was ecstatic when he performed it again at this show. I loved it when Jake admitted he needed help from the crowd singing this song as he may forget the words. Nevertheless, he did an outstanding job.
For the closing track, I guessed it would be between Lightning Bolt and All I Need. It ended up being the latter, which I preferred, and it made more sense as the song was off his latest album and the tour is named the Saturday Night, Sunday Morning Tour.
Also, if you usually listen to Chris Moyles on Radio X, you would hear his famous fart noise effects in gaps in certain songs. Well, All I Need is one of those tracks and I admit I did give a little raspberry fart noise in the gap. Not sure if anyone else heard or if there were Chris Moyle fans who tried it too – well done if you did.
I also need to bring up the crowd’s bizarre but hilarious chanting of Jake Bugg’s name to the 80s song Give It Up by KC and the Sunshine Band. As this was my first time at an actual Jake Bugg gig, I wasn’t aware of the fun, quirky moments that usually happen at his shows. It amused me more when the actual song played on the sound system as we were leaving the venue and everyone was singing it.
Finally, I want to mention Jake Bugg’s very talented band who performed on stage with him and the terrific support acts who opened the show – solo artist Louis Dunford and Scottish alternative rock band Vistas. I love discovering new music through support acts and I’ll definitely be checking these guys out.
