Django Django live at Stylus, Leeds

Fresh-faced thirteen year olds attending their first gig rub shoulders with seasoned rockers, forming the biggest motley crew imaginable and packing out Stylus for the men of the hour: Django Django. As the band appears, resplendent in piano key shirts and Christmas jumpers, they are decidedly uncool. All of that is about to change, as lead singer Vincent Neff picks up a tambourine and wields it like a talisman, entrancing the crowd as he waves it back and forth for ‘Hail Bop’. All of a sudden, the four gawky lads stood on stage are transformed into magicians, placing the audience under a spell as they weave their way through an incredibly varied set.

Django Django prove themselves to be more inventive than just another indie electro band. ‘Love’s Dart’ featured the make-shift use of a cardboard box as a drumset and coconuts as percussion; paired with an acoustic guitar, it provides a lulling contrast to the preceding ‘Reflections’.

They also expand outside of their generic bounds with ‘Slow West’; written for the Michael Fassbender film of the same name, it’s the closest the band will ever come to a Mumford & Sons-esque vibe without swapping their synths for banjos.

The most striking thing about Django Django is how much their performance suddenly puts their albums into context. As recordings, it’s easy to see how, objectively, they are undoubtedly quite good, but not hugely impressive or memorable. Live, they are electrifying. Where on the album, tracks like ‘Skies over Cairo’ are repetitive, when performed, you never want them to end.

The band’s own enthusiasm during the show is infectious. Carried through by the mesmerising drum beats, the band enter their own trance-like world which, rather than excluding the audience, pulls them in further.

Django Django: indie rock’s nice guys changing your life one strobe light at a time.