The lively video clip for the Jungle song ‘Back on 74’ is a firm favorite of the year. In one shot in one room weave the film’s dance scenes together of fearless women and yearning, hunting men. One dances even more contagious than the other: writhing in sensual dances, staccato moves – everything seemingly effortless but highly detailed in a choreography by the Dutch dance talent Shay Latukolan. Those dances, there are more videos of that same dance team, went viral this year in various challenges on social media such as TikTok and Instagram.
These magical video clips may have greatly increased the popularity of the British ‘modern soul’ formation Jungle in all their nostalgic atmosphere, but the band itself has been absent from those video clips since its debut in 2014. From the brilliantly compelling debut singles ‘The Heat’ and ‘Busy Earnin’, with their creeping beats, street sounds and always driving groove, the two band founders, Josh Lloyd-Watson and Tom McFarland (‘J &T’) prefer to shroud themselves in clouds of mystery – although they do give interviews. They prefer to put their music first.
That is certainly also the case at Afas Live in Amsterdam on Wednesday, where Jungle performs its catchiest songs, especially from the album released this year. Vulcano. However, the contrast with those beautiful videos could not be greater.
When the red stage curtain falls down with a bang, six band members stand with their instruments spread across the entire width of the stage in sultry red light. In the middle: the two front men behind their keyboards. Above the digital screens, the band name in large letters is bathed in rays of LED light. And so it will remain.
What you can count on with Jungle: intertwined falsetto voices in sugary harmonies, merging synths, funky disco guitars, smooth bass grooves, hand claps, footsteps and shouts like ‘hey, how are you doing’. From the first note there is radiant feel-good in a packed Afas Live. The band has clearly attracted a lot of new audiences through the videos.
Swaying disco soul
In recent years, Jungle has gone from intimate club shows to pop festivals such as Lowlands to major concert halls. The swaying disco soul appears to be well magnified, with especially pumping bass and the disarming, richly illustrated songs, from four albums to date, lose none of their power. The high voices, with an extra singer, lead.
So songs like ‘The Heat’, the full ‘Time’ and the disco funk of ‘All of the Time’ are musically solid. But a good concert has more. The static shape of that vast band, whose band members are mostly absorbed in the flickering decor, is increasingly taking its revenge. Pretty boring like that.
These clean, smooth performances feel more like warm-ups for a long night of dancing than an intensely polite stage act. And when it’s the turn of the top hit ‘Back to 74’, or the equally delicious ‘I’ve Been in Love’, for which guest rapper Channel Tres makes his hot contribution from the screen, it is in vain to hope for those great dancers who do everything beautifully. can portray and carry.