Live Review: Jake Bugg – HMV Empire Coventry 5.8.23

Jake Bugg takes time out from his festival dates to bring his show to a buzzing Coventry crowd Saturday night.

It’s hard to believe that Jake Buggs debut album came out over 10 years ago now, and a testament to Jakes success is he continue to evolve, both as a singer and song writer. Not scared to take risks and break out from the sound of his debut album Jake continues to write catchy indie classics, as well as dance hits.

Before Jake Bugg came on stage the Coventry crowd were treated to the sounds of up and coming artist Felix. The crowd seemed to have followed Felix, or at least checked him out prior the gig as they were singing along to the tracks that are currently on Spotify.

Keep an eye out for Felix, his debut EP is released soon,

Following a brief interval the familar sounds of Oasis rang out through the Empire and the intensity grew as they knew Jakes arrival was imminent.

Walking out onto stage with cheers from the vocal crowd Jake welcomed us to the show and said he would be singing songs old and new, before going into “Me and You” from 2013’s album #ShangriLa – Great choice for an opening song before slowing things down with “Note To Self” from debut album, #JakeBugg.

Jake played 22 tracks tonight covering his career, leaving, in my opinion one of his best tracks to last with “All I Need” from 2021’s #SaturdayNightSundayMorning album

Biggest track of the night, is always fan favourite “Lightning Bolt” which never fails to get the crowd jumping and singing along in full voice.

Jake returns to the festival circuit following this gig, but fingers crossed we get more Jake Bugg gigs soon because with a back catalogue as strong as his, a 30 minute festival set seems far too short for such a talent.

Setlist:

1. Me and You
2. Note to Self
3. Simple As This
4. Trouble Town
5. There’s A Beast and We All Feed It
6. Messed Up Kids
7. Kiss Like the Sun
8. Slumville Sunrise
9. Ballad of Mr Jones
10. Seen It All
11. Broken
12. Pine Trees
13. Lost
14. Habits
15. Kingpin
16. Screaming
17. Two Fingers
18. Lightning Bolt
19. What Doesn’t Kill You
20. Simple Pleasures
21. Hold Tight
22. All I Want