I was there for a Django Django gig (it's what God would have wanted) and so for a night of first's, this was to be the first time I would see this band live, something I'd intended to do since 2012 when their debut album was released.
It may have taken me 3 years, but it turned out it was worth the wait. Manchester Cathedral was an impressive choice of location, the high ceilings, the stained glass windows, the cold stone walls.
The first support act - Hot Vestry were pretty decent starting the show with some electro 80s sounds that got people dancing about or swaying at the very least; they were followed by Roller Trio an instrumental band that were undeniably very talented musicians - the saxophonist in particular was incredible, however, after a few songs I actually started to get a bit bored and moved away from te stage and headed to the 'stand' where they were serving beers and ciders from a big ice bucket. For some reason, they don't have fully functioning bars in cathedrals. I was (as much as I hate to say this) kind of glad when their set was over.
Nevertheless, despite what I felt may have been a slightly poor choice for a second support act I was very excited for Django Django to take to the stage, and they were brilliant. They played a variety of tracks from their two albums - not one weak, even though the stuff from their first is still my favourite, the light show as much as the bands performance made the whole evening seem even more unique. However, their impressive choice of visuals did come at a cost, when during 'Waveforms' the power actually blew, the crowd dedicated to the cause carried on singing the vocals for a while after (while me and a few others believed this to be a planned part of the act! It wasn't) after a short while they began the song again only for the power to blow again(!), this time all the lights went out... half an hour later without a word from anyone.. the band reappeared on stage, 'less lights this time' and performed the track for the third time, and yes third time lucky the system held out. The rest of the set was fun and the band didn't let it effect their performance, but, a part of me had started to lose some enthusiasm from waiting around for so long and it had killed my vibe a little. Maybe God wasn't happy about the booze and music after all.
But although there may have been a few glitches, Django Django did wow live, they are without a doubt at their best in front of a crowd, I may have enjoyed listening to them in many a location, place and time, but seeing them live made me realise that that's what brings their music to life.
Luckily, I will be catching them again at End of the Road festival in September (maybe you should too) - I just hope they don't blow the power system there. Kaboom.
In the meantime, here's 'Waveforms':
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2dOW3ztvfs
