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Djo review – Joe Keery mixes genres in an endearing, if uneven, Brooklyn set

Stranger Things actor’s musical project has gone from bedroom to the big stage and, while not all of it works, there’s energy to spare

End of Beginning, a synth-y, nostalgic ode to a past version of oneself, became a TikTok track, a million videos soundtracked to Keery’s wistful “and when I’m back in Chicago, I feel it”, largely without knowledge of the name. As evidenced by the sheer amount of cheeky, anxiety-laced lyrics shouted back at him on Wednesday night, the crowd was here for a hit of Djo – modern dread, ennui and revelation in psych-rock form, fleshed out with a six-member band and clear rock-star ambition. In person, despite my ample cynicism over the TikTok-ification of music and the proliferation of phones at concerts, and Keery’s own wariness of a single snippet overtaking everything else, End of Beginning gave me goosebumps – a glittering three-minute hymn to the passage of time, the obvious choice for a finale wisely held four songs before it.

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