Cage the Elephant at University of Wolverhampton, 16th February 2025 -

I admit I am late to this party, only discovering Cage the Elephant when they released the ‘Unpeeled’ album in 2017. But I always found that when I had my music on shuffle and one of those tracks came on, which I wouldn’t immediately recognise, I would think: This is great, who is this? And when this happened continually, I then went and bought their earlier work and found it all outstanding.

My expectations of tonight’s gig are exceeded beyond measure as well, when I find that far from being an indie/lo-fi experience, Cage the Elephant are exemplary; it is a polished and powerful experience from start to finish.

Support tonight is provided by two up and coming American bands; Girl Tones from Kentucky (their single produced by Brad Shultz) and New Yorkers Sunflower Bean. Girl Tones are a two-piece band featuring screaming vocals and a ferocious guitar sound complete with thumping riffs, supported by solid drums. They do well with the limited sonic soundscape you get with just guitar and drums, but with a great use of time signature and tempo changes, it is a compelling noise the two sisters make. The guitar feedback between every song gets a bit wearing though.

Next is a crowd pleasing set of four on the floor rock n roll from New York’s Sunflower Bean. For me though it is just too derivative and sounds like the band had only listened to Joan Jet and the Blackhearts and Sabbath. This new young breed of band no longer utilises the old ‘quiet loud quiet loud’ arrangements and just go for ‘loud loud loud and again loud’. The lack of dynamics is not a recipe for extended listening for me, but the Civic crowd are lapping it up.

Cage the Elephant follow and manage to mix up numerous musical styles and come out sounding like nobody else, which to me should be any artist’s goal: taking inspiration and enhancing it to make something new and vital. Added to this is the band’s ability to write beautiful melodies and interesting arrangements, along with a front man who is dynamic and mesmerising on stage. Matt Shultz whips up the Wolverhampton audience from the first note of the set until the band leaves to a roar of approval 90 minutes later.

Matt’s brother Brad is equally physical on stage and a fearsome sight dressed all in black with signature dark glasses. He interacts with the crowd throughout and receives shouts of encouragement when he smashes his small guitar at the end of ‘Sabertooth Tiger’ which closes the main set. I thought as it was happening that nobody does this anymore and had conflicted emotions about how exciting it is to see, but also what a lame rock cliche it actually is, particularly when you know he does it every performance. Still, the younger man in me is thrilled to see any show where the band isn’t a cardboard cutout on stage, and Cage are anything but.

The 22 song set thunders along, never letting up for a moment, featuring tracks from their back catalogue and new album ‘Neon Pill’. There is not a lot of in between song talking except the obligatory thank yous, which is fine by me, but I know many fans prefer this connection to their band. It feels to me that Cage are so focused on their music and their personal connection to it, that breaking the fourth wall would undermine the overall feeling they build up through their songs. The raw emotion that comes out of a singer who is singing about the real things in his life, is palpable. As an onlooker you have to marvel at the artist who bares his soul like this and you feel the ongoing repair… the catharsis of reliving the sensation and sharing it in public. Matt has spoken about his past psychosis and the damage caused to relationships that our now healing and you can hear it in every word he sings. The joy of watching someone overcoming trauma is truly life affirming and reminds you how powerful music can be.

I had expected Cage the Elephant to be a band that would give off a low fi indie vibe in their shows, but I am blown away by the strength of their sound live, which is so powerful, mixing rock, indie and a sprinkling of old school hip hop perfectly.

BirminghamLive have followed Cage the Elephant’s career since 2008 and it is clear that not only has the band been exceptional each time they come to the Midlands, but that we here at brumlive.com love them. It is no different tonight.

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