Old Fruitmarket, 19/02
Walking into the venue creates a rustic, down-to-earth atmosphere that sets the tone for the evening. Decorated with orange-glowing fairy lights and old signs, the Old Fruitmarket is the ideal place for a night of indie rock and folk music.
When GEORGIE comes on stage standing alone with only a small spotlight and a guitar, she seems lost in the large venue, yet her sound soon makes up for this first impression. Her deep voice resonates throughout the room and brings her lyrics home. At first she struggles to gain the attention of many people in the audience, but her cover of ‘Be My Baby’ wins the crowd as people sing along to the familiar words. It seems all too soon when she leaves the stage.
Jake Bugg follows in a similar image: he too stands on stage accompanied only by a guitar and lit with a single spotlight. He does not struggle to get people’s attention, though. Throughout the night the crowd is kept on its toes through a set of songs carefully selected from all of his albums and that fluctuates between slow, intense tracks and fast, sing-along tunes. From the start, the audience joins in on every song and chants his name during every interval. Unfortunately, he does not give much more back to fans than the generic repetition of “Thank you”, “It’s so great to be back”, or “How are you doing Glasgow?”, later disappointing us all when he doesn’t even give an encore.
For me, the great thing about going to see a live performance is usually the feeling that that you are getting to know the person behind the artist. Sadly, that was not something Jake Bugg’s presence on stage offered. That said, it was not really necessary – the crowd was behind him from the get go, and his fantastic voice, catchy rhythms and great lyrics only reinforced their enthusiasm.
[Kirsty Campbell]
qmunicatemagazine.com 