I bought Jungle tickets at the beginning of the year, and it’s lucky I did as they sold out in mere weeks. I hadn’t heard any of their music before then, but a mate I had spoken too couldn’t speak more highly of them. In 2013, no-one had any idea who the band were, hiding their identities, only being known as ‘J & T’. After a couple of amazing music videos (check them out if you still haven’t seen them), an underground online buzz had been created around them, labelling the group as a must see. Now their secret is out after having their self-titled album nominated for a Mercury Prize, and they are well and truly in the fast lane to becoming one of Britain’s biggest and best bands.  

Speaking to members of a bustling crowd caught in Concorde 2’s mid room bottleneck, they spoke in high admiration expecting nothing less than an exceptional show. The band of seven arrive on stage, backlit by a gloomy green aurora with their name sprawled across the stage in green neon, they start off with their first release ‘Platoon’. Then going into their second release ‘The Heat’, which, for such a smooth and silky song, put an uncontrollable groove into each and every member of the audience.

 

Along with the high stage at Concorde 2 and their dreamy electronic modern soul music, the brilliant lighting made it feel as if Jungle were performing out of the heavens on a cloud. A suitable stage for their calibre of music. You could not see the faces of the band as their silhouettes put holes in the light – hiding themselves, making you forget about the person behind the music, and forcing you to focus on the more important audio and how it made you feel.

 

We didn’t hear much from the band throughout the show until after the song ‘Lucky’ (my favourite of the night), where J said “playing the Concorde has made a dream come true” after regularly going there whilst living in Brighton for 3 years before moving to London. After going through 11 of the 12 songs on their album, the band finished with the triumphant ‘Busy Earnin’’, making a jubilant crowd want more of Jungles’ euphoric take on 70s soul disco.

 

The whole concert was seamlessly perfect. I could not believe it when they said it was going to be their last song, as the time had become irrelevant – an outstanding performance. From playing Sticky Mikes Frog Bar in 2013 to playing the Corn Exchange in March 2015 which I’m sure will sell out, it is only onwards and upward for this band.