Jungle sells out the Red Rocks Amphitheatre – April 17, 2024

After just performing at one of the biggest festivals, Coachella, Jungle and Neil Frances are back in Denver to sell out the Red Rocks Amphitheater. Jungle, who’s had a huge year of success with the viral hit “Back on 74,”  which won them the Brit Award for British Group, along with continuously selling out shows and headlining festivals worldwide. This ongoing tour is an extension of their Volcano tour, which started in June 2023 at the Santa Barbara Bowl. Jungle’s latest album, “Volcano,” encapsulates their funky soul and dance vibe with a spin from new collaborators. The project from start to finish feels like a well-written book that has a cohesive theme throughout. Knowing this and the historical background of the Red Rocks Amphitheater, I was excited to see what they had in store.

Neil Frances

The night started off with mellow winds and strings from duo Neil Frances, who brought the funk with “It’s Like A Dream.” This got everybody dancing and enjoying the music as the sun started to set. The duo brought chill vibes with soft vocals from “Dancing” while later transitioning to “Some Kind of Static.” The duo knew how to mix dreamy beats with soft vocals that got the crowd moving. The energy was really brought out when Neil Frances performed their smash hit, which is a cover of Stardust’s “Music Sounds Better With You.” Whether you knew the Neil Frances or Stardust version, this song definitely got you dancing. At one point, one of the members climbed a huge rock and performed the song, hyping up the crowd. Right after, the duo performed “Teardrops,”  which is a personal favorite of theirs and mixes hazy vocals with drums and a soft electric guitar backing. Neil Frances then closed out their set with “Dumb Love.”.

Jungle

The time has come, and you can feel the anticipation of Jungle rising and being felt throughout the amphitheater. The curtains drop, and the group slowly walks out to orange-illuminating lights and background visuals. The epic intro of “Busy Earnin” is slowly being played, and then as the beat drops, the whole group is jamming. The song is then quickly transitioned to the Volcano tracklist, which follows with “Candle Flame,” featuring visuals of Erick the Architect rapping, and “Dominoes.”. 

What’s great about Jungle is that they know their fan base consists of old and new fans, so they always mix the setlists with songs from all of their albums. The group then performed “The Heat” and “Heavy, California,” which is a soulful dance track that perfectly captures the California weather and feeling all into a song. As I walked throughout the crowd to view the show from different parts of the amphitheater, the crowds did not change. Everybody was dancing to literally every track, from the first row all the way to the nosebleeds that overlooked downtown Denver. 

The setlist then proceeded with newer tracks from Volcano, including “I’ve Been in Love” and “Back on 74.” Lydia Kitto, who performs vocals and keys, did an outstanding job singing, but particularly on “Don’t Play,”  which mixes a combination of modern dance music with funk. It almost sounds like a newer age of Daft Punk with vocals that you just want to hear on the dancefloor with disco balls. The group then performed a personal favorite, “All of the Time,” which includes a melodic acapella intro and breaks into a funky electronic arrangement. The show was coming to an end as the group took a group picture with the crowd and performed “Holding On.” Jungle then closed out the show with an encore performance of “Keep Moving.”.