by Donte Kirby
Django Django at Union Transfer (all photos by Donte Kirby)
Chicago’s Wilde Belle and London’s Django Django had the crowd at Union Transfer moving their hips with their genre blending sounds.
Wild Belle, composed of siblings Elliot and Natalie Bergman, opened up the evening with sultry tones and dark melodies. In a song, they could go from an alternative synth heavy sound to a ska influenced, almost island sound and then to a funky sax heavy jam. Through it all, lead singer Natalie Bergman’s passionate croon grounds Wild Belle’s genre hopping sound. They played songs such as “Another Girl” from their debut album Isles and delighted fans with a few tracks from the upcoming January album Dreamland. The single from the new album “Giving Up on You” received tons of applause to go along with the two steps from the crowd.
Wild Belle’s instruments, as well as Django Django’s, were felt reverberating through your chest. No vocals were ever overwhelmed, though. A testament to the talent of the bands, sound engineer or both.
Django Django hit the stage bathed in a projection of the nude sculpture of a yawning man, a seashell covering his manhood- the cover of their latest album Born Under Saturn. From the moment the four piece hit the stage the packed floor of Union Transfer was already in the palms of their hands. For both bands the audience was filled with avid fans and that paid dividends in the overall fun atmosphere of the show. Beach balls were volleyed, and hips were twisting.
The crowd went crazy when “Fire Water” from Django Django’s self-titled debut album was played and there were a lot of fervent “whoas” howled by the crowd. “Shake and Tremble” induced a lot of shaking and wiggling. Philadelphia Django Django fans are surly waiting with anxious legs for the next time their back on this side of the pond.
