Surprise night out - Jake Bugg

english_bob

Mrs_bob has been a bit of a fan since the first album. She tried to get tickets for his solo acoustic tour several months ago but the gig at DeMontfort Hall was sold out. They offered to put her on a cancellation list which we'd both promptly forgotten about.

...until she got a phone call yesterday afternoon asking if she still wanted tickets. Babysitting arrangements were swiftly made and off we went. 

Damn, he was good. I had my doubts about how interesting he'd be for an hour or more with just a guitar, but I needn't have worried. He's a solid player and a decent singer with a really good back catalogue of interesting songs to draw from- he also played  decent covers of Wichita Lineman and Good Time Charlie's Got The Blues. His voice is an acquired taste, but you could say the same of Bob Dylan (I'm not comparing...).

Also not nearly as surly as I expected- quite talkative in fact, even made a joke about how he comes across as a "douchebag" in interviews ("when the guy interviewing you is the biggest douchebag you've ever met... well, not always"). 

Well worth checking out if he's coming to anywhere near you.

ICBM

This reminds me that I must get his new album…

I know what you mean about his voice, but I quickly got used to it and now I think it really suits his songs. He can really play the guitar too.

Sadly the gig near me is sold out as well.

english_bob

ICBM said:

This reminds me that I must get his new album…

I know what you mean about his voice, but I quickly got used to it and now I think it really suits his songs. He can really play the guitar too.

Sadly the gig near me is sold out as well.

I haven't heard it yet either, or the previous one. Mrs_bob bought it a while ago and I did my dutiful husband thing and ripped it to our NAS, then forgot about it.

I normally put new stuff on my phone to listen to while I'm at work but didn't bother with that one. I'm going to rectify that.

I was surprised how many empty seats there were for a "sold out" performance at DMH. Also surprised by how many people left during his performance- probably exacerbated by the fact that the only way out of the stalls was via the stage, and obviously you don't get to stand by the exit and ask people whether they weren't enjoying themselves, or if they just realized they'd left the oven on, but I do wonder if the solo acoustic sit-down format put people off. It's not like he misrepresented what it was...

And further to recent discussions about guitar heroes, there were a large number of very young people there- passed a couple of kids who must have been under 10 on the way out, and there were loads of teenage girls. On a school night too. Disgraceful.

EricTheWeary

I wonder if tickets had been sold for resale and then there were no takers. 

Quite common to go see people leave big gigs early, presumably to beat the rush out the car park or get back to the baby sitter. But I imagine they aren’t going to big/ expensive gigs all the time and the finish time is usually pretty clear in advance at big venues so it seems odd behaviour to me. 

english_bob

EricTheWeary said:

I wonder if tickets had been sold for resale and then there were no takers. 

Quite common to go see people leave big gigs early, presumably to beat the rush out the car park or get back to the baby sitter. But I imagine they aren’t going to big/ expensive gigs all the time and the finish time is usually pretty clear in advance at big venues so it seems odd behaviour to me. 

It was all over by 10PM, and there was surprisingly light traffic around the area compared to other times I've seen bands at the same venue. Who understands how people's minds work though?

DMH only holds 2000-ish, so it's not exactly a small gig, but it's not that big or expensive in the grand scheme of corporate-sponsored soulless concrete enormodomes. Actually, it's pretty much the perfect size if you ask me- even if you had seats right at the back you'd have a good view, and I've never known it to have bad sound (seen Bellowhead, Counting Crows, Elbow and Jake Bugg there...). Booking choices are fairly MOR, as you'd expect, but that's life outside of a very few places in the UK.

munckee

I always leave early, I'm not standing there while people desperately shout "one more" its embarrassing.  Not really I always stay to the end just in case one time the band 'begrudgingly' come back out to do an encore and everyone has already left!

Have heard Jake Bugg's wichita linesman cover before, its excellent.

m_c

This was one of the tours I really wanted to see, but failed to get tickets.
What really pisses me of is, how quickly tickets appear on reselling sites. When I looked I could of got a ticket for Edinburgh, but they were going for 5-6 times the original price.

english_bob

munckee said:

I always leave early, I'm not standing there while people desperately shout "one more" its embarrassing.  Not really I always stay to the end just in case one time the band 'begrudgingly' come back out to do an encore and everyone has already left!

Jake Bugg had no truck with that shit at all. Off stage, house lights up, "What A Man" on the PA (Linda Lyndell, not Salt & Pepa! And yes, I did have to look it up), game over. Having been given such a clear "I ain't fuckin' doin' an encore" signal, everyone went home without protest. Who says rock and roll is dead?

Which reminds me- his background music mix was ace. 

ICBM

english_bob said:

I haven't heard it yet either, or the previous one.

The previous one - On My One - is brilliant. I have a signed pre-release copy that I got with my HMV loyalty points - about the only time one of those schemes has ever come up with something I really wanted!

english_bob said:

Jake Bugg had no truck with that shit at all. Off stage, house lights up, "What A Man" on the PA (Linda Lyndell, not Salt & Pepa! And yes, I did have to look it up), game over. Having been given such a clear "I ain't fuckin' doin' an encore" signal, everyone went home without protest. Who says rock and roll is dead?

Good. I don't mind a genuine encore - best if it's something unexpected, like an old song you didn't expect to hear, or a cover - but I can't stand that contrived "encore" crap where they don't play the biggest hits and it's painfully obvious that they're ending a few songs early, then come back on and do three or four.