America! Get ready for the next great singer. Britain’s Jake Bugg played a sold out show at New York’s Bowery Ballroom on January 14, 2013, his 2nd show in the US to date, and there’s no doubt that he is going to be a superstar! Jake Bugg has been making music since he was 12 years old and though his voice has the characteristics of an old soul, one of the most incredible facts about Jake is that he is currently only 18 years of age!
Jake Bugg
He’s already been endorsed by Noel Gallagher (formerly of Oasis), is being compared to Bob Dylan!, and his country/folk music is currently residing at the top of the charts in England. It’s so exciting to see such a young person possess so much talent and surely he’s only going to get better with age. Head on over to his official site and get a free download (for a limited time only) of his song “Saffron.”
Jake Bugg
Although his self-titled debut album is not out in the USA yet, that didn’t stop the sold out crowd from singing along to his European hits “Taste It,” “Country Song,” and “Lightning Bolt.” I’ll be posting a video from the show in the coming days so stay tuned. Jake Bugg is so talented and again when you consider how young he is and how great he already sounds, it will blow your mind. As I tend to do when I go to concerts, I had the opportunity to tell Jake Bugg how great his show was and he was extremely cool. You can see a photo from that moment as well as the set list after the jump.
New York is gonna have a big old Kiki this weekend as Scissor Sisters play 2 shows! Hope to see you at Terminal 5 this weekend! Morrissey, who is also pictured above, will not be in attendance, but we can confirm that he totally disapproves of this post!
If you missed out on seeing Wild Belle and The Maccabees at Webster Hall in New York on June 13, 2012, you missed out on a great show! Opening act Wild Belle got the party started around 8:15 pm. Their music has elements of pop, R&B and reggae. The band are comprised of brother and sister Elliot and Natalie Bergman and several members of the group NOMO. Natalie sang nearly every song (except for one) with her brother playing keyboards, backing vocals and saxophone! Natalie’s voice was very soulful and their songs were mostly short and sweet with fun beats that I am looking forward to hearing as soon as their debut album is released (as of press time, no word on release date).
Natalie Bergman of Wild Belle
British indie-rock band The Maccabees hit the stage around 9:30 and played a solid 18-song set that was really rockin’! If you don’t know much about The Maccabees, here’s a few fun facts: the band, who is not religious at all, got their name from flicking through the Bible and randomly chose “Maccabees.” The group has been around since 2004 and have released 3 albums including their 2012 record “Given To The Wild.” If you’ve never heard their music before, imagine bits of Coldplay, Arcade Fire, Jose Gonzalez and Foals blended together.
The Maccabees
Four out of the 5 members of The Maccabees lined up in a row to produce a (literal) guitar wall of sound, whilst their drummer sat behind in the center of the stage. With a great light show and rockin’ songs, the audience was jumping up and down for a majority of the set and the floor at Webster Hall was vibrating! Highlights for me were many of the fast paced songs like “X-Ray,” “Glimmer” and “Child” (which starts off slow and builds to a great climax).
Orlando Weeks
If you missed the show, you might be waiting a while to see The Maccabees perform again in the states as this was the only scheduled US show they have for awhile, but it sounded like lead singer Orlando Weeks mentioned something about being back in the fall. If that is indeed true, don’t miss The Maccabees!
Van Hunt is back! The psychedelic soul rocker made his return to New York with a sold out show at the Studio at Webster Hall on September 19, 2011. I’ve seen two other guitar players who fit the above description perform live this year and I can honestly say, Van Hunt is the only one out of the 3 who is still taking chances and is growing tremendously as an artist. Van Hunt is so great live. His band is different since the last time I’ve seen him, but they are still tight. Van challenges the audience by playing his hits and best loved album tracks in different arrangements and every time I go to one of his concerts, I find myself singing along to the words not realizing what song it is until the chorus kicks in. Tonight was no different, but one reason I keep coming back to see Van Hunt perform is that the arrangements of the songs are just as great as the studio versions. It’s not just the grooves though – his lyrics are so great. He expresses many things we all think, but never have the guts to say out loud.
Van Hunt
Van’s latest album is called “What Were You Hoping For?” and off the new album, he played the title track, “Watching You Go Crazy Is Driving Me Insane,” “North Hollywood,” “Eyes Like Pearls” and “A Time Machine Is My New Girlfriend.” The new songs are much more rock oriented than his previous albums, but for those like myself that have seen Van Hunt live before, this direction is a natural progression in sound for Van. He also played a few tracks from his unreleased 3rd album “Popular” including “The Dimples on Ur Bottom,” “SNM” as well as the final track of the night, “The Lowest 1 of My Desires,” which featured an audience sing-a-long of the chorus which is “I wanna fuck… you baby.” A video of that song will be coming soon, so stay tuned. From his second album “On The Jungle Floor,” he played “Man of the Year (Hot Stage Lights)” (but the version from his online only EP) and ”Character.” From his self-titled debut, we were treated to “Dust,” “Hello Goodbye,” “Seconds of Pleasure,” “What Can I Say,” “Her December” and “Down Here in Hell,” all with different arrangements. Lucky us!
Van Hunt
I highly recommend you check out Van Hunt in concert if you have not already done so. There are very few artists these days that are willing to take risks, but Van Hunt is one of them. Seeing Van Hunt and talking with him afterwards is the best way I could have possibly spent the final hours before my birthday, so thanks for that Van!
Click play and see why Theophilus London is set to be one of the hottest new stars of the music scene. Last name London. First name Theophilus. This catchy jam will be stuck in your head for days! Theophilus London’s album “Timez Are Weird These Days” is out now.
Read the First Comment 
