Saturday, 19 October 2013

Taken to Musical Heights by Jake Bugg's Performance at Bournemouth International Centre

Standing in the huge hall of the Bournemouth International Centre, the music began with a folk band from Ohio and their first performance in the UK. They were skilled, they could pluck really fast, but I knew everyone was waiting for the main act, not the build up- and I think they knew it too.
When the man himself, Jake Bugg entered the stage, he entered modestly, wearing a modest black T-Shirt, Jeans and not afraid to casually tune his guitar in front of the anticipating crowd. But when the show started, the true range of his musical style and roller coaster ride of emotions from both his old and new album burst into action with the upbeat Trouble Town. No bullshit. This guy meant business from the off.
After sifting smoothly through life-affirming songs like Simple as This and the famous Two Fingers and showing off his signature strumming across the neck style with his accompanying drum and bass, he switched to solo acoustic on his humble guitar. To really hit home the range of his musical style, everyone in the audience sung along to his sweet, mellow Country Song, and stood enthralled by other new ones as images of walking through countryside and pine tree forests glided into mind.
As the show drew to a close, his penultimate song; a truly original cover of folk rock legend Neil Young's Hey Hey My My, preceded what can only be described as the perfect choice for a final song- the first song on the album that everyone knows and drew attention to this individual artist in the first place; Lighting Bolt. One which struck every audience member at the Bournemouth International Centre that night.
Shangri La Jake Bugg album

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