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Concert reviews Music

Jungle at Lee’s Palace

JUNGLE at Lee’s Palace, Sunday, June 16. Rating: NNNN


Translating a studio project to the stage can be a gamble, especially when a group has been so invested in remaining faceless and anonymous in their early stages. In the case of UK soul pop band Jungle, their first live shows led to accusations of appropriation when it turned out they were actually a couple white guys and not the ethnically diverse collective portrayed in their promo photos, which turned out to be just shots of dancers in their videos. Luckily, their live show is so tight that the quality of the music overshadows the controversy.

The four-piece band that played Toronto is considerably smaller than the seven member version they’ve previously performed as, but they wisely avoided relying too much on backing tracks, and kept the energy level high for the entire set. Initially it felt distracting that the two lead vocalists had windscreens attached to their mic stands, covering much of their faces, but in some ways that helped put the emphasis where it should be: on the lushly arranged unison vocals and sensually laid-back disco rhythms.

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