Django Django have always been a party band.
Sure, the group’s output – now on to their third album – has it’s fair share of nuance, matching increased electronic experimentation to moments of strikingly personal revelation. But it’s all done with a wink and a nod, and a thumping backbeat supplied by drummer-DJ-producer Dave MacLean.
So Django Django are the ideal hosts for the opening of Printworks’ new live music space. Already revered for their club culture productions, the venue is full to bursting by the time the four-piece arrive onstage, accepting the vast cheer with a mixture of clear relish and slight bewilderment.
Opening with ‘Marble Skies’ the sound is crisp but the performance expansive, Django Django willing to explore every inch of the material. ‘First Light’ is typically heavenly, while ‘Waves’ rushes above the audience’s heads, propelled by the vast soundsystem running across the length of the huge venue.
‘In Your Beat’ and ‘Sundials’ are perfect mid-set touchstones, a place for the four-piece to truly lock together, a unified band performance. ‘Fuhrter’ glides into ‘Firewater’, before a string of debut album bops push the crowd to fever pitch.
‘Skies Over Cairo’ remains a perfectly odd psychedelic pop tune, while ‘Default’ has to be one of the best indie ear-worms anyone has constructed over the past decade. With confidence rushing through their veins Django Django close with ‘WOR’, and it’s call to “Press the button and drop it to the zone…”
Returning for an encore, Django Django thank the crowd repeatedly, the vivid lights interlocking with their greetings as the huge hall is illuminated.
Ending with ‘Silver Rays’, this stalwart of the band’s live shows feels invigorated, renewed, the pulsating electronics creating a physical rush that recalls the group’s shared love of the digital underground. It’s a heady, intoxicating rush of a show, one that pushes Django Django up towards fresh heights.
A band capable of real joy, new album ‘Marble Skies’ deserves a headline festival slot; on this form, someone somewhere really needs to give it to them… – – – Photography: Rachel Lipsitz
Join us on Vero, as we get under the skin of global cultural happenings. Follow Clash Magazine as we skip merrily between clubs, concerts, interviews and photo shoots. Get backstage sneak peeks and a true view into our world as the fun and games unfold.