Stopping over in Melbourne at a sold-out show at 170 Russell St, a crowd of new and old fans banded together to see their favourite Brisbane outfit. With supports, Evan Klar and Alice Ivy in tow, the room was full of energy.
The four-piece took the stage, welcomed by a massive roar across the room. Joining the band was a simple, yet robust stage set. Neon led bars recreated the album cover for Quiet Ferocity. This basic set was very similar to that of another Brisbane band, Cub Sport on their recent Bats tour. Clearly, Brisbane is breeding some impressive set designers as of late. The Jungle Giants kicked off the night with ‘On Your Way Down’ from last year’s Quiet Ferocity. The building intensity of the first beat and electric guitar quickly excited the crowd. With the heavier drums and frontman, Sam Hale’s soft vocals joining in, each audience member was jumping simultaneously. The indie-rock group have a gift of producing a refined, upbeat track in-studio and then being able to take it to a live context and turn the intensity right up. Hale’s clear and calm vocals could attribute to this skill as it encourages the audience to sing along with every word.
The band powered through the set, blink and you could’ve missed the whole thing. Drawing from The Jungle Giants’ three albums, the band played crowd favourites from Quiet Ferocity whilst paying homage to their roots off Learn to Exist. Stepping straight into one of their most known songs, ‘She’s A Riot’, the band didn’t let the crowd’s spirit dip for a moment. Skimming past dancey tracks, ‘Anywhere Else’ and ‘Waiting For A Sign’, the band gave the audience a rest with a slower paced song. ‘You’ve Got Something’, was the deep breath and cool air the crowd needed before jumping back into it with the new album’s title track, ‘Quiet Ferocity’.
Loyal fans howled at the familiar sound of guitarist, Cesira Aitken’s opening riff to ‘I Am What You Want Me To Be’. Signalling the beginning of the non-stop dancing for three and a half minutes straight. Hales is an incredible hype man, ensuring that every person in the room is jumping together. Alongside bassist, Andrew Dooris who jumps around the stage with his quirky flare, the crowd is often left with no choice but to join in. ‘Bad Dream’ played next, the perfect transition song into The Jungle Giants’ more electro/pop sound they’ve adopted over the last two albums. Stretching into the title track of the tour, ‘Used To Be In Love’ played.
Writing Quiet Ferocity, Hales adopted a 9-5 schedule, leaving home each morning like a full-time job. The juxtaposition between the mundane concept of a full-time job and the absolute banger of an album is amusing. Clearly, a writing technique that has worked in his favour. The band finally closed, ‘Feel the Way I Do’, arguably one of the biggest songs of 2017, reaching number 16 on triple j’s hottest 100. With the end of the night lurking close by, the audience gave all they had in the last few minutes of the set. The band finally left the stage with a swift cool change rushing over the audience as they all halted and cheered instead of jumping to the music. Over six months after the release of their most recent album, The Jungle Giants can’t seem to stray from touring. The Jungle Giants will be back in Melbourne before too long for another two sold-out shows. Here’s hoping the excitement of the shows will push along another release shortly.
Highlight: Dooris’ eccentric dancing while still being able to play the bass flawlessly.
Lowlight: At the risk of sounding cliche’, the end.
Crowd Favourite: ‘Feel the Way I Do’.
