Jungle live in London: smooth operators evolve to make arenas step up
Now a trio, the band fizz with a new energy and are backed by a delightful stage show at their first gig at The O2.
Though Tom MacFarland and J Lloyd are the brains behind Jungle, the duo have always aimed to distract attention from themselves. Emerging in the early 2010s, the pair favoured anonymity when first presenting the project, while their most famous music videos – which often go turbo-viral – feature a troupe of fantastic and energetic dancers that command the spotlight.
The pair’s music also falls in line with this. Across their first two albums (2014’s self-titled album and 2018 follow-up For Ever), they made impossibly smooth funk-inflected pop music that is firmly inoffensive and lyrically impersonal but with melodies that got their claws firmly in and dominated radio playlists and ad campaigns.
While it was a recipe that was working, the band switched things up post-pandemic on 2021 album Loving in Stereo, a record that widened their sonic palette and saw the entrance of new singer Lydia Kitto. “We can literally do whatever the fuck we want,” McFarland told Rolling Stone UK last year, relishing another opportunity to freshen up the project and remove themselves from the immediate spotlight.
Across that album and last year’s Volcano, the possibilities for Jungle suddenly seemed to appear endless. MacFarland and Lloyd’s distinctive dual vocal style had defined the band’s early age, but sometimes led to a one-dimensional feeling. Now, they can stretch further and wider.
At the band’s first headline arena show in London, the subtle evolution of Jungle takes its biggest step so far. The week before the show, the band welcomed Kitto as a full-time member of the band with new single ‘Let’s Go Back’ and she proves the perfect frontwoman for MacFarland and Lloyd on stage. While the original duo take the reins for timeless opener ‘Busy Earnin’ and other tracks from their debut album, it’s on newer material sung primarily by Kitto where the band feel their most dynamic. It feels symbolic that at multiple times throughout the set, she moves forwards from her place within the backing band to stand front and centre and belt her way through highlights from Volcano.
If the band’s new three-piece line-up has helped them evolve and step up to arenas, their sublime new stage show makes it feel all the smoother. Understated but beautiful, the delightful visual spectacle, teamed with the trio’s new energy and their superb backing band, make a potentially difficult graduation to The O2 feel as uncomplicated and divine as their music.