Jungle Give Minneapolis First Taste of the Sunshine Tour at the Armory

If there’s one thing Jungle knows how to do, it’s get a room moving.

Opening the night was Rio Kosta, who brought his own soulful, genre-blurring sound to the stage for a 45-minute set. Kosta moved through songs including Ancients, Follow the River, Higher, and Mountain Top, creating an atmospheric introduction that eased the crowd into the evening without trying to compete with the headliner.

There was something especially fitting about Kosta opening the tour with his warm, groove-heavy sound set the tone for a night built around movement and mood. By the time he wrapped, the crowd was more than ready for Jungle and Jungle wasted no time delivering.

As the first stop of the tour, Minneapolis got the Sunshine treatment in full. If the opening night was any indication, Jungle’s run is going to be one very, very fun ride.

There may not be a better band to kick off a September tour than Jungle. On Wednesday night, the British trio transformed Minneapolis’ Armory into a sweaty, euphoric dance floor for the opening night of their Sunshine Tour, bringing nearly two hours of funk, soul, disco and electronic grooves to a crowd that seemed more than ready to move.

The Minneapolis show was a particularly fitting place to begin the tour. The first stop on a massive North American run that will eventually take the band to venues including New York’s Barclays Center, Denver’s Red Rocks Amphitheatre. The Armory crowd got an early look at what Jungle has in store for the rest of the world.

Founding members Josh Lloyd-Watson and Tom McFarland have spent more than a decade building Jungle’s unmistakable sound, but the addition of Lydia Kitto as an official member brings another dimension to the live show. Kitto’s vocals were a standout throughout the night, particularly on newer Sunshine material like Carry On and Someday, Somewhere. Her soulful delivery fit seamlessly into Jungle’s warm, layered production, while J Lloyd and McFarland kept the grooves moving underneath her.

And Jungle has always understood that their music is meant to be felt as much as heard. Tracks like Back on 74, Casio and GOOD TIMES had the entire Armory bouncing, while newer songs from Sunshine showed that the band has no intention of simply recreating the formula that made their previous album, Volcano, such a success. Back on 74 in particular remains an absolute live fan favorite, the kind of song that seems to activate an involuntary shoulder shimmy in an entire room.

The production only amplified the experience. Pulsing lights, colorful visuals and Jungle’s effortlessly cool stage presence gave the show a distinctly cinematic quality without overwhelming the music. There’s a looseness to Jungle’s live performance that makes a massive production feel surprisingly intimate three performers onstage, a room full of people dancing, and a shared understanding that nobody is here to stand still.

By the time the band reached the encore, launching into Keep Moving and Busy Earnin’, the Armory had fully embraced the groove. It was the kind of ending that left the crowd buzzing rather than ready to go home.