It is unfortunate, but understandable that non-stop touring to promote a new album can sometimes make an otherwise excellent band complacent and slightly jaded by the time they finally make it to your city. That, or they’ve intentionally chosen to give off that all-too-familiar bored and hip aura.
Neither of these things applied to Django Django’s performance at Festsaal Kreuzberg last weekend, and it was immensely refreshing.
Irish frontman, Vinnie Neff spread positive, joyful vibes to the crowd wishing everyone a happy St. Patrick’s, celebrating the end of the band’s tour, and commanding the attentive, enthusiastic audience to put up their hands, get down on their knees, make noise, dance etc.
Though I’m personally not the biggest fan of rhythmic clapping and the like, it was certainly effective and added tangible layers of fun to the show. Truly an entertainer, Neff laughed and joked around with other Django Django members, switched places and instruments and just generally seemed to be having a wonderful time which was lovely to watch and feel a part of.
The band’s best asset, variety, was definitely on display that night, keeping everyone guessing by constantly switching up the mood, genre, and album provenance.
The band’s best asset, variety, was definitely on display that night, keeping everyone guessing by constantly switching up the mood, genre, and album provenance. As a matter of fact, I began playing a little game with myself trying to name the musical influences behind each track and very quickly gave up.
The show started as a moody psych-infused set with truly amazing lighting (props to the lighting team! Some of the coolest projection/light contrasts I’ve seen), band members shining in eerie green with orange trip-out projections in the background.
Then the sound and vibe became instantly more electronic and almost clubby, causing my show-mate and I to mouth confused exclamations at each other. Then Rapture by Blondie was somehow covered mid-song with drawn-out instrumental solos.
The vibe then went all-out indie dance-party, surf-rock, into folky ballads, and concluded with about four encores because the band just couldn’t seem to get enough of playing.
The vibe then went all-out indie dance-party, surf-rock, into folky ballads, and concluded with about four encores because the band just couldn’t seem to get enough of playing. While it’s true that this extreme mixing of styles could at times be slightly confusing, and has gotten the band a couple negative reviews in the past, I found it quite exhilarating in the instance of this crazy-fun show and their masterful new album, Marble Skies.
