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Jungle at First Ave Jungle Setlist
Tour Dates
03/19/2019 Terminal 5 New York, NY
03/20/2019 Union Transfer Philadelphia, PA 03/21/2019 9:30 Club Washington, DC 03/22/2019 The Orange Peel Asheville, NC 03/23/2019 Marathon Music Works Nashville, TN 03/29-31/2019 6Music Festival Liverpool, UK 04/18/2019 The Power Station Auckland, NZ 04/19/2019 Bad FridayFraser Park, Marrickville, Australia 04/24/2019 Enmore Theatre, Newtown, Australia 04/26/2019 The Tivoli, Fortitude Valley, Australia 04/27/2019 The Esplanade Hotel , Saint Kilda, Australia 04/28/2019 Forum Melbourne, Australia 04/30/2019 Teatro Vorterix, Buenos Aires, Argentina 05/02/2019 Cine Joia, São Paulo, Brazil 05/04/2019 Festival Fauna Otoño 2019 05/08/2019 C.C Barranco Arena, Lima, Peru 05/10/2019 Teatro Nacional Sucre, Quito, Ecuador 05/16/2019-05/19/2019 Hangout Fest 2019 05/29/2019-06/02/2019 Primavera Sound Festival 2019 06/07/2019-06/08/2019 Field Day 2019 06/08/2019-06/09/2019 Parklife Festival 2019 06/13/2019-06/15/2019 Piknik I Parken 2019 06/26/2019-06/27/2019 Plissken Festival 2019 06/26/2019-06/30/2019 Glastonbury Festival 2019 06/27/2019-06/30/2019 Rock Werchter 2019 06/29/2019-07/06 2019 Roskilde Festival 2019 07/12/2019-07/14/2019 Forecastle Festival 2019 Read More
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“When you smile, the world feels a little better” - Jungle, ‘Smile’
There were plenty of smiling faces from those who managed to get into a sold-out Mainroom at First Avenue in Minneapolis for a set from UK soul/funk/disco collective Jungle.
The evening opened with a band returning to the scene after a five-year absence – Houses, led by singer Dexter Tortoriello, who after a few years of songwriting and producing for others and re-locating from Chicago to LA, released EP Drugstore Heaven (Downtown Records) last fall.
The band played as four-piece, happy to be back on the road, capping their short set with ‘Fast Talk’, from the recent EP that’s been a slow but steady bubbler in terms of gaining increased local airplay, but is a distinctive song, with colorful lyrics like, “Maybe God is just a cop that we can fast talk. What if death is just another pair of handcuffs, well then we’d better run”
A quick set change revealed a wall of lighted bulbs as backdrop and their large logo above it all, as London neo-soul collective Jungle took to the stage for their eighty-seven minute headlining set. The band is out in support of second full-length For Ever (XL Recordings) and began with the two opening songs from that record, ‘Smile’ and Heavy, California’.
Founded by frontmen Tom McFarland and Josh Lloyd-Watson, their mid-tempo lush retro funk/soul style is immediately apparent as the band is about establishing a groove, then maintaining and sustaining it throughout. Add to the fact that both usually sing in tandem (in a higher falsetto and often also along with their two backup singers) and you have a musical style that can be immediately identified as theirs.
Big radio hit ‘The Heat’ was played early on, with the lights on stage turning an appropriate mix of reds and oranges, and logo glowing. “Minneapolis on a Tuesday night- come on!” they urged to greater applause. “I’m sorry it’s been such a long time” they (unnecessarily) apologized, having last played the area and the venue in October 2014.
Musically, the band is precise and very well-rehearsed, picking up after ‘Julia’ with another four new songs, to make sure everyone was as acquainted with the new record, as their well-received 2014 debut. On 2014’s ‘Lucky I Got What I Want’, they implore “don’t you forget about me” in repetition as a cacophony of sounds, beats, and sirens mix about, and their first single ‘Platoon’ dating from 2013, reminds us “It’s how good you are” perhaps also referring to their musical exactness.
Newest single ‘Casio’ maintains that mid-tempo and isn’t as electronic as the title might infer, instead is a story of love lost set against a mid-70’s laid back soul groove and featured some smooth vocals from singer Rudi Salmon.
‘Drops’, a dreamy tune that starts soft but builds its musical muscle would end the main set, but the band quickly returned for a two-song encore starting with perhaps their most well-known song, ‘Busy Earnin’ (used in numerous games, commercials, and TV shows) and finished with 2014’s ‘Time’ in which the lyrics urge to “just let it out” which the sold-out crowd did, in the form of clapping along, moving in place, and erupting into end applause.
With For Ever, Jungle digs a bit emotionally deeper- musically, still very style-based, but lyrically more admitting of their personal heartbreaks, the down side of the West Coast, and dream chasing. To see it performed live with such musical tightness was revelatory as well-the band artfully carries on in the UK neo-soul tradition that Sade did in the ‘80’s and Soul II Soul and Craig David did in the ‘90s, making Jungle still one to watch.
(click on any photo below to enlarge and see full image)
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Jungle at First Avenue, Minneapolis (12 March 2019) |
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