HE may only be in his early 20s but Jake Bugg already has a substantial following as he took to Manchester’s O2 Apollo on Tuesday (October 18) evening. Quays News reporter Caitlin Blackwell was among the crowd…
Upon arriving at the O2 Apollo, the dedicated fans of the Nottingham-born 22-year-old, Jake Bugg, were already queuing in the typical rain of Manchester, hours before the first show of his 14-date UK tour.
Once their tickets were scanned, the fans – mostly girls – ran for their lives to get as close to the barrier as possible.
At 8:00pm sharp the audience were welcomed by Bugg’s support act ‘Georgie’, who was dressed in a leather jacket, jeans and chelsea boots.
She began her set with a song named ‘Wildcats’ which the crowd reacted to fantastically; jumping and waving their hands throughout.
@officialgeorgie you smashed it tonight, couldn't of asked for a better support. Are you on the European tour too? ?
— Ffion Baines (@FfionBaines) October 18, 2016
With Georgie’s style being so similar yet so different to Bugg’s, with her indie vibe and gifted talent on the guitar, the fans in attendance were bound to love it.
Georgie’s set lasted half an hour before finishing with her most recent EP ‘Company of Thieves’ which judging by the crowd’s reaction, was a perfect end to her set and a successful start to Bugg’s UK tour.
After a 30-minute interval of patiently waiting fans, Bugg casually strolled onto the stage with minimum fuss, yet there was no casual reaction from the standing crowd as the Apollo went into a complete frenzy as he picked up his guitar and began his set with his track title ‘On My One’ from his new album.
Reflecting the song title, he was stood on a rather dull stage with a bright spotlight shining upon him, leaving fans looking mesmerised by his acoustic performance.
In Bugg’s case, the notion ‘less is more’ worked in his favour.
Wearing a plain, dark grey t-shirt, black jeans and black trainers he couldn’t have worn anything better to suit his chilled out attitude whilst he stood innocently and soaked up the adoration from the audience.
He played his first three songs on his own before introducing his talented three-piece band which made his performance, as he described, more ‘rock-n-roll’ with the deep sounds of the bass and the attacking sound of the drums.
Jake bugg has just blown the roof off the Manchester apollo! What a gig! X
— Ryan Humphreys (@Rhumphreys21) October 18, 2016
Between each song, the roaring crowd would chant “Jakey Jakey Bugg, Jakey Bugg, Jakey Jakey Bugg!!” to KC & The Sunshine Band’s famous song – ‘Give It Up‘, making the whole audience enthusiastic and showing him some energetic support alongside the mosh pits that formed.
The set was simple but had a big effect; the lights made the stage look electrifying as they changed colour and flashed at different speeds depending on the style of the song being performed.
In terms of stage presence, he didn’t move much, but again I believe the ‘less-is-more’ would’ve suited his style best, him, his guitar and the microphone.
Unfortunately for Bugg, the crowd went too far and lit a smoke flare which security reacted promptly to as Bugg was nowhere to be seen behind the red smoke before having to stop mid-song and leave the stage, leaving annoyed fans booing until the people responsible were taken out.
This was only the beginning of the reckless behavior.
Alongside drinks being thrown left, right and centre, a second flare was lit during ‘Taste It’ leaving the vocalist frustrated as he had to leave the stage for the second time, resulting in security watching the crowd like hawks.
Bugg apologised for having to stop saying: “We didn’t want to stop guys but we had to.”
5 songs in and Jake Bugg gets stopped for a smoke bomb pic.twitter.com/aItrO2dOXb
— dan (@brfc_dan) October 18, 2016
In a professional manor, Bugg continued the show from where it left off, singing a range of songs from his first album, to the second album and some from his new album; all of which were being sung back to him by the loyal fans.
Jake bugg singing broken will neverrrrr get old pic.twitter.com/9UwxjGdusm
— mol (@Molliehaq) October 18, 2016
The highlight of the night was when the Nottingham performer played his ballad song ‘Broken’.
The spotlight returned to Bugg and heaps of passion and enthusiasm went into performing.
The crowd were screaming the lyrics back to him, making it feel as though we were singing it with him.
He finished his set with ‘Lightning Bolt’ which was a great way to end the set.
He used the last of his energy into strumming his guitar for the finale whilst the crowd used the last of theirs by forming mosh pits and dancing, celebrating such a successful show.
By Caitlin Blackwell
@caitlin_ffb
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