Amsterdam, The Netherlands – British art-rock band Django Django has just started their 2023 UK & Europe tour. It has been quite some time since the band played a show in The Netherlands, but tonight they arrived in Amsterdam for a night full of playful and energetic rock music.
As the support act of this tour, Django Django brought Low Island along. The quartet from Oxford, UK fuse electronic and house music together with some rock and emotive layers both in their music and lyrically. Since their debut EP Just About Somewhere released in 2017, they seem to be full of inspiration having already released multiple singles, EP’s and three full albums. The most recent album Life In Miniature was released in 2023. Some of the songs that stood out to me are, “Don’t Let The Light In” and “Who’s Having The Greatest Time”. I am not sure how well-known they are here in the Netherlands, but it did not seem to matter. They played their set with confidence and the crowd seemed to really like them as well. The band likely gained some new fans tonight, me being one of them!
Low Island live at Paradiso, Amsterdam. Photos © Sylvia Wijnands
Django Django opened their show with “Spirals” followed by “Right The Wrongs”, both from their album, Glowing In The Dark. The mood in Paradiso was immediately great with the energetic songs. By the third song, “Tic Tac Toe”, the band had the entire hall dancing. A cover of The Beatles’s “Tomorrow Never Knows” was also met with great enthusiasm. A new song and yet to be released, “Somebody’s Reality” was followed by “Golden Cross” from their last album Off Planet, which was released this year as a concept album. The album was released in four parts, each as a separate “planet”, and includes many guest appearances such as Self Esteem, Jack Peñate, Stealing Sheep, and Toya Delazy.
“Black Cadillac”, also from Off Planet, is bound to be one of those classic Django Django songs. The audience seemed to love the song with its distinctive bass riff and harmonica, it also reminded me a little bit of some Gorillaz songs. With “Waveforms” the crowd went wild, even a fan had made a sign to request the song. After playing “Slipstream” there was a surprise cover of Daft Punk’s “Around The World”, which fits very well with the band’s repertoire. The set closed with Django Django’s biggest hits so far, “Default” and “Silver Rays”. After a short break, they returned to play the encore, “Champagne”.
During the entire evening, everyone was having such a great time. There was a very pleasant and festive atmosphere with a lot of dancing, jumping, and singing along. After “Champagne” ended and the band left the stage, it was clear that the crowd didn’t want the show to end yet. Everyone stayed cheering for a long time, hoping that the band might come back to play some more songs. Unfortunately, we will have to wait until the next time Django Django returns to the Netherlands.
Django Django live at Paradiso, Amsterdam. Photos © Sylvia Wijnands
Django Django
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Setlist
Spirals
Right The Wrongs
Tic Tac Toe
First Light
Hail Bop
Tomorrow Never Knows
Somebody’s Reality
Golden Cross
Black Cadillac
Waveforms
Slipstream
Around The World
Dumdrum
Wor
Default
Silver Rays
Champagne
Show Date: 22/11/2023