During Cage The Elephant’s rowdy appearance at Los Angeles’ Kia Forum in early July, lead singer Matt Shultz took more than one opportunity to briefly bring down the tempo and share some reflections from a challenging period for himself and the band. It had been five years since he and his bandmates from Bowling Green, KY had played L.A., which he called their “second home.” But while such a gap isn’t uncommon for a major touring act in the post-COVID era, it wasn’t just a pandemic that kept Cage The Elephant sidelined for so long.
The band’s absence was also due to a string of unfortunate turns in Matt’s life. Chief among those was a mental-health mixup that led to him taking the wrong medication for his condition and, ultimately, winding up hospitalized amid a psychotic episode. Fortunately for himself, his family (including his brother, Brad Shultz, who plays guitar in Cage The Elephant), the band, and its legions of fans, Matt has since recovered from that incident. What’s more, the pain, confusion, and every other thought, feeling, and emotion brought about by that time played a part in inspiring the latest Cage the Elephant album, 2024’s Neon Pill. Which, in turn, landed the band back on the road for an extensive tour of North America.
After a pair of outstanding opening performances by Bakar, Willow Avalon, and Young The Giant, Matt and company burst onto their decked-out stage inside the famous Forum, as though they had never skipped a beat. Mere moments into opener “Broken Boy”, six-foot towers of flame shot up toward the ceiling and the show was off and running. No longer a broken boy himself, Matt’s energy and motion was as unstoppable as ever as he danced, sang, and pseudo-rapped his way through a 21-song setlist that tastefully sprinkled new tunes between tried-and-true staples of Cage’s catalog.
From there, the Shultzes and their accompanying band—Daniel Tichenor on bass, Jared Champion on drums, Nick Bockrath on lead guitar, and Matthan Minster on keys—plowed through a plethora of powerhouse tracks, including “Cry Baby”, “Spiderhead”, and “Too Late to Say Goodbye”. It wasn’t until five songs into the show that Cage The Elephant first cited their latest LP, that honor fell to “Good Time”, with its halfway hip-hop vocals and hard-hitting instrumentation that have both become synonymous with the band’s style and sound, respectively.
After dropping in another pair of heavy hitters with “Cold Cold Cold” and “Ready to Let Go”, Cage went back to drawing from Neon Pill by way of the album’s title track. That begat another run of the Cage The Elephant classics: from the slightly more mellow “Social Cues” and “Halo”, the band burst into “Mess Around” and “Trouble”—both off 2015’s Tell Me I’m Pretty—before sending the packed house into a head-banging frenzy with the band’s seminal anthem “Ain’t No Rest For The Wicked”.
The vibes relaxed again somewhat with “Skin and Bones” en route to the final new song of the night, “Rainbow”. Fans throughout the Forum swayed wistfully to the balladic “Telescope” and then promptly returned to rocking out to the punk-tastic “Tokyo Smoke” and “House of Glass”, from 2019’s Social Cues. Following a brief break that was filled only by a smattering of electronic noises, Cage The Elephant came back out for a three-song encore comprised of the iconic “Shake Me Down”, “Cigarette Daydreams”, and “Come a Little Closer”.
At seemingly every point along the way, the building was filled with a remarkable energy and enthusiasm, especially for a Sunday night show. One might reasonably trace those high vibes back to the band’s own infectious presence, best personified by Matt, or even in some small part to the pyrotechnics and laser lights. The better bet, though, is that Cage The Elephant simply has fashioned a loyal fanbase for itself over the years, particularly in Southern California. The band has long primed its supporters to expect a spectacle of modern rock stardom, and they, in return, arrive at arenas and amphitheaters tingling with anticipation not often seen outside of a soda bottle stuffed with Mentos.
Expect similar scenes to unfold at Cage The Elephant shows in New Mexico, Texas and Arkansas, as well as the 31 headlining dates across North America that will comprise the second leg of its Neon Pill tour from early August through late September. Find tickets and a full list of tour dates on the band’s website.
Below, check out some fan-shot videos from Cage The Elephant the Kia Forum by BananaMan and a gallery of photos from the show via Josh Martin.
Cage The Elephant — “Spiderhead” — 7/7/24
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