CAGE The Elephant came to Manchester over the weekend, Quays News entertainment reporter Andrew Collinson went along…
Following the release of their fourth studio album ‘Tell Me I’m Pretty’ in late 2015, Cage the Elephant are showing no sign of losing imagination. Vocalist Matt Schultz stated: “With this record, we wanted to be more transparent. We wanted to capture the sentiment of each song”.
Cage the Elephant brought their friends from Nashville, Tennessee in the form of four-piece rock and roll outfit Chrome Pony, who not many people had heard before. The band however announced themselves with a performance to be remembered – a unique sound of progressive rock and roll which stays true to its roots and is unashamedly mid-south American rock.
The quality of their music was justified by the amount of people watching and paying attention to their songs, which really begs the question why this band are so anonymous, for now.
Cage the Elephant formed in 2006 and released their self-titled debut album in 2008 and since then have come on leaps and bounds. The question was how their new songs would stand up to their early fans who are now almost a decade older. Said question was answered almost straight away as the band opened up with ‘Cry Baby’, the first song on the new album. The sound of bongos triggered a cheer from the capacity crowd and after a calm but groovy verse, the chorus erupted and so did the crowd who screamed every word.
The band then immediately travelled back eight years to their first album with ‘In One Ear’, a raw garage sound which made it clear why this band have grown as quickly as they have. From the word go this song hits hard like a punch from Mike Tyson and it screams rebellion.
One song which caught my attention was ‘Take It or Leave It’ from bands third album ‘Melophobia’. What starts off as a seemingly calm love song from years gone by, with precise and gentle tones from instruments and vocals, then progresses into a chorus which tells you this is a love song, but not a normal love song, one of frustration and not happy like many others. Singer Schulz captures the emotion in this song perfectly, not only showcasing his vocal range, but the ability to bring lyrics to life though his performance.
As every song went by the group seemed to become even more animated. At one point it seemed as though the band were having a competition with the audience as to who could bounce about the most, which was a very close contest.
https://twitter.com/bushby_23/status/701172543315697664
The jumping and dancing continued until all the music stopped expect one guitar which played a riff which could be mistaken for a lullaby. Schulz then introduced ‘Trouble’ from the new album, as all light focused on a disco ball hanging in the centre of the ceiling which illuminated the Ritz. The band said they wanted to catch the sentiment of each song and they have hit the nail on head here with such an emotive song which is no doubt an instant classic.
Cage the elephant have got to be one of the best bands I've seen live ??
— Angus Coutts (@AngusCoutts) February 21, 2016
Older hits ‘Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked’ and ‘Back Against the Wall’ went down a storm as mosh pits started developing before the bands encore which exploded to my attention. ‘Sabertooth Tiger’ was like a rush of blood to head. A fast, thrashy, distorted and melodic concoction which sounds a bit like 80s punk left you wondering what just happened, but at the same time incredibly satisfied.
If one thing could be better it would be the interaction with the audience, one song came straight after the other when a minute of chat wouldn’t have gone a miss. However I heard no complaints as all this did is leave more time for the music.
Cage’s set was practically perfect, the sound was great, the band were as tight as a drum (pardon the pun) and Schluz’s voice was powerful. Expect this band to playing Manchester Arena on their next tour.
By Andrew Collinson
@AndyDCollinson
Recent Comments