Django Django : Leeds University Union Sat 5th Dec 2015
This was to be the second time in the space of 10 months that I had the chance to see the band that have got right under my skin…Django Django. No other band…well..no other band since hearing Gomez’s Bring It On album has affected me quite like the Djangos self-titled debut in 2009. I believe in love at first sight…I also believe in love at first listen…like when someone can get lost in a person’s addictive personality…music has the same effect on me.
When I saw them at a warm up gig in the Liquid Rooms up in Edinburgh in February they were really good…as good as I thought they would be…after watching loads of YouTube videos where they were playing live…usually from American and French radio stations (KEXP, KCRW and WFUV plus La Blogotheque)…I had a feel of how good they could be to see.
On this occasion in Leeds however, I had an exciting bonus of seeing a band that I had not heard of up until the three weeks prior to the gig. As soon as I knew I was going I had a quick look at who was supporting…it turned out to be..Stealing Sheep…and what a pleasant suprise that turned out to be. Their debut album Into The Diamond Sun and their 2015 release Not Real both completely missed by my musical radar…like countless others…although indie music blogger Jamie Morgan and Meridian FM’s indie temptress Claire Hickson seem to be helping me catch up on those that I have missed. So…as a creature of habit…I was straight on YouTube to see what I could find of their live sessions. What I found was amazing!!! Genevieve (Best Fit Session) was one of many uplifting songs full of beats, synths and guitars before being enveloped by amazing female vocal harmonies…if it all came together on the night this really was going to be something very special.
The gig was held in the Univiersity Students Union…and I must admit…hats off to them for having such a great venue…it was the perfect size and set up for everyone to get what they wanted out of the band. Having got there just on doors opening drinks were any easy purchase plus a decent viewpoint for the rest of the night…plus being less than 10yds from the bar…Union drinks prices too…always a bonus!!!
My only disappointment from the night was not managing to get a picture of Stealing Sheep’s superb fluorescent batwing leotards!!! Should have been on sale on the band’s merchandise table…note to self…new idea…buy 100 fluorescent batwing leotards and follow Stealing Sheep’s tour bus/mini bus/van/estate car.
After an instrumental intro they quickly without pause launched into songs off their new album…songs like Love, This Time and Apparition are played to perfection with the gathering crowd entranced with the energy generated by the beautiful Liverpool trio…Rebecca Hawley (vocals + keyboard), Emily Lansley (vocals + guitar) and Lucy Mercer (vocal + drums). Genevieve got a great outing along with Deadlock…and following a shout of “I LOVE YOU!” from a lad stood on the stairs near where we were…which had them all giggling and asking if someone had actually just shouted that…finally…just as Rebecca’s keyboard was dying they managed to pull Shut Eye and Not Real out of the bag. They got a good reaction from the nearly fully gathered crowd…they were really really good…both albums have been bought!
After another drink or two…thanks to Captain Morgan’s Spiced Rum and a quick toilet break it was onto the main event.
Enter The Djangos…Vinny (vocals + guitar), Tommy (keyboards), Jimmy (vocals + bass) and Dave (drums) walked onto the stage and flew into their instrumental intro from their debut album that merges quickly into Hail Bop…I have a grin from ear to ear…my knackered knees are bouncing…head is nodding…I know all of these songs word for word.
Their debut album gets a great airing…Storm, Firewater, Love’s Dart, Life’s A Beach and the excellent Default are all played to the Djangos high standard with instrumentals Skies Over Cairo and Slow West (from Dave Maclean’s brother John’s film of the same name) thrown in to keep the tempo going along with now well perfected songs from this years Born Under Saturn…Pause Repeat, Shake and Tremble, First Light, Reflections and the amazing rarely seen live on youtube…4000 Years…Leeds Uni is alive.
My personal favourite Waveforms has all the band apart from Dave bouncing with the crowd…with Vinny and Jimmy joining Tommy on keyboards as Drumforms kicks in and the crowd are spent. They move on into playing WOR to a deep redlit room.
a great addition to the playing of WOR was Vinny asking everyone to sit down during the song…before everyone launched back up and into it again. They finish in typical Django fashion with the sublime Silver Rays…a song that has everyone with their hands in the air…and that’s it…one hour and thirty five minutes of pure genius…these guys just get better and better.
With it being as close to a home coming gig for bass player Jimmy cries of “Yorkshire” were heard on occasion with the Morley lad playing his little socks off throughout…they even nearly had a decent jamming session with the crowd.
All in all it was a very special gig that is up there with one of the best gigs i’ve been to for long long time.
