In his 19 short years, Englishman Jake Bugg has worked with Rick Rubin, worked with Chad Smith of Red Hot Chili Peppers, been praised by music journalists around the globe, dated models, performed at Coachella, performed at Glastonbury, and now, sold-out New York's Terminal 5. He did this all before he could legally drink in the United States. Bugg is not your typical teenager or someone about to enter their second decade. He is an old soul trapped in a young man's body. He has admitted that he didn't know who Rubin was before working with him, his influences are people of the past that are no more like Johnny Cash, The Beatles, Oasis, Hendrix, and not any new British band that is making waves around the globe. He is a rock star that doesn't like to admit that he is a rock star. He just wants to be, simply, Jake Bugg. At Friday's sold-out show and the biggest gig he has played in North America in the two years he has been touring this side of the pond, Bugg didn't seem nervous or anxious, he just seemed to be him, which is why is his the future of rock and roll. No attitude, no ego, no pompousness, it is all work and all play and all love for what he has for his craft.
Backed by two musicians, a drummer and a bassist, Bugg played to an audience that of fathers with their daughters, 20 and 30-somethings with their friends and lovers, and people that could be his parents. It was an unusual atmosphere, but the fact that his music reminds those older than him of their past and a new generation that there is other material and music aside from the garbage on the radio. Blending in songs of from his two albums, 2012's self-titled debut and last year's Shangri-La, Bugg sounded just as his did on record. It was as if he was recording live in a studio with 3,000 guests. In the 60-minutes he was on stage, he didn't do much but he didn't have to, everyone was already sold on his talent and work when they bought a ticket.