For those who say “Rock is dead,” I’ve got news for you. Rock is more than alive thanks to bands like Cage The Elephant who plays shows with pure and raw energy, and they proved it once again during their Chicago gig at the Aragon Ballroom, a small venue for a band who plays arenas around the world, but it was part of the the 101 WKQX radio station special concerts The Night We Stole Christmas.
The opening acs were The Federal Empire and the supergroup Angels & Airwaves, which is conformed by members of Blink-182, Nine Inch Nails and Taking Back Sunday. The crowd reaction was good, specially when they played their hits like “Everything’s Magic” and “The Adventure”, but you could notice most part of the crowd were waiting for Cage The Elephant.
Cage The Elephant took the stage and started with “Borken Boy”, “Cry Baby” and “Spiderhead” which included some amazing performances from the Schultz brothers. Matt (vocalist) used masks and a blue suit showing a great domain of the whole stage, while for Brad (guitarist) the stage was not enough and he went into the crowd to play on top of them and to crowdsurf.
The music performance of the six members of the bands from Kentucky were amazing and you could notice on people mesmerized reactions during the whole set, specially during songs like “Ain’t No Rest For The Wicked”, “Mess Around” and “Cigarette Daydreams” where the crowd sing even louder than the band.
You can feel the energy the band has on stage, and nobody in the crowd was able to just stand still. You jump, crowdsurf or even just headbang to the music, but there’s no way Cage The Elephant show make you stand still. As the show went on, it just keep getting better and better and had one of the best moments of the night when they played “Teeth” with Matt Schultz singing standing in top of the crowd and crowdsurfing to get back on stage. Cage The Elephant finished their set with “Love’s The Only Way”, a slow song from their last album who set the perfect mood as a farewell song for the night.
Images and words can’t describe the experience of seeing Cage The Elephant live. It’s an experience you have to live for yourself, and I can say without a doubt that they are becoming one of the greatest rock bands of the new century, and soon they will become the next headliners of festivals around the world.
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Cage The Elephant
Angels and Airwaves
The Federal Empire
By: Diego Vigueras | Exclusively for @Music, Why Not!
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