JERUB - born in Nigeria and raised in Nottingham - already has north of 3 million plays on his latest record The Wonder Years. It was only out a week when he returned to Notts on his UK tour to play a well-received homecoming gig...
Goldsmith Street tonight, adorned usually with Rock City’s entourage of undergrads dressed as traffic cones, is eerily quiet as my friend and I approach the entrance of the club’s next-door neighbour, Rescue Rooms. Walking through the doors we are greeted by a much warmer scene. Long has this venue hosted Nottingham’s brightest young talent in the most infantile stages of their careers, and this gig symbolises a victory lap in testament to that ideal. Friends have gathered to celebrate one of their own.
Gideon Akpovi - alias JERUB - grew up going to a Blue Coat school. He became friends with his now manager Thando Zulu at the University of Nottingham which they attended together. Today he arrives back in town with 1 million streaming listeners, two albums and a voice with enough silk to outweave the lace market.
Strong applause is allotted to support act Persia Holder (below), whose voice wraps effortlessly around the pop ballads she sings accompanied by Matt Burrows; and also to Josie Beth (above) whose EP Alone in a Crowded Room (2024) distinguishes her as someone to pay attention to.
JERUB’s set begins with No Good Alone, a big starter with a stomping mid-tempo pulse. He wears a Nottingham football shirt. The title track to his 2023 EP, Finding My Feet, follows. It’s not an obvious place to begin (both songs are confessionals of inadequacy), but they signpost us to the JERUB staple: Piercing honesty. Where many pop-artists lead us into a pretence of immutable self-sufficiency, Akpovi walks the other way.
His vulnerability continues throughout the rest of the set, which includes Let It Go, new track Deeper and Carry the Load. His band delivers a polished product, providing a glossy backdrop for Akpovi’s astounding vocal performance. Special mention goes to Daryl Chin on the drums, who maintains a metronomic precision with his whole body and finds space for playfulness within tight arrangements. Bassist Alex "Beans" Miller and Emmanuel "Manny" Adu Karikari complete a well-drilled backline.
An unconventional moment occurs during The Wonder Years, in which JERUB encourages the crowd to hold a period of silence, eyes closed, for a minute. Akpovi carries a noticeable emotional heaviness throughout, and drops a shoutout to Nottingham’s champion of grassroots music Laurie Illingworth (who shouts back an impassioned "love you mate" from the back of the venue).
Towards the end of the show JERUB points to the woman standing next to me and reveals she is his form tutor from college who has supported him since he began playing smaller acoustic events in this same venue. BBC Radio Nottingham’s Dean Jackson, who has given JERUB hours of airtime since his first release in 2019, opens the night with a short speech.
This string of sentimental cameos point back to the man at the front, whose unique warmth has maintained a sense of locality within the complexities of success. However, hometown nostalgia comprises only a small slice of the night’s offering, which overall showcases a big local talent ready to get a lot bigger.
JERUB performed at Rescue Rooms on 19th November 2025.
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