Jungle + Georgia @ Forum 29-04-19
words: Jess Sommerfeld // photos: Rick Clifford @rcstills
Review
“…the entire front section of the venue looked like one massive, gyrating wave of people…”
Even on a school night you’d assume that anyone who bought a ticket to the Jungle show at the Forum would be down for a boogie and would be entirely delighted to witness Georgia - who reveals similarities to Little Dragon and the likes of Bjork.
While Georgia was warmly welcomed on stage, the night did start slow in the sense of ‘dancing’ which in Melbourne often translates to awkwardly swaying your body from side to side or discreetly nodding your head - hoping to give the illusion that you’re chill and somewhat into it, but it’s not big deal. However as time did go on - thankfully people started to relax, take themselves less serious, and appear to actually enjoy the end of Georgia’s set and naturally by the time Jungle appeared, even the most bland of punters was taping their toe and having a grand old time.
Attending a Jungle show could possibly mean that you’re likely to be sceney, vibey and definitely keen to snap a shot of your time out and about #doinitforthegram etc and to be completely fair Jungle are so much fun to watch. The stage production is incredibly lusty and almost forces you to collapse into a magical dream like state - from the lighting, the silhouettes, synchronicity of the backing vocals’ dance moves, and of course their music, naturally eludes to complete absorption of whats happening on stage, especially when performing in such a regal and historically profound space.
The setlist was so perfectly curated - weaving in and out of tracks that anyone who listens to music knows, to the ones only true fans have in their playlists but either way all Jungle songs are worth staying up late on a Sunday night for.
Opening with Smile the crowd was certainly easing into the night but by the time Heavy California came around - from where I was standing, the entire front section of the venue looked like one massive, gyrating wave of people, moving all around, and rightfully so, because at this point it could have easily been a Friday or Saturday night. Tracks like The Heat, Casio & House in L.A were amongst the delights before the encore that obviously included Jungle’s most loved tracks Busy Earnin’ and Time, off Jungle’s debut studio album which bought back some serious 2014 nostalgia.
Overall, it’s always really good to see people lose themselves at shows although increasingly the more sceney the show, the more reserved punters are, but thankfully, despite the amount of snap chat and instagram screens hovering throughout the crowd the Jungle show invited anyone and everyone to have a little dance and bring the Jungle Australian and NZ tour to an end. Jungle were overall a good time and even though it was their last of the tour - the show was so enthusiastically brilliant and a complete delight to be in awe of (because clearly if you were there, you’d know what I mean about being in awe…)
