US chaps Cage the Elephant wowed their audience from start to finish at the Unity Works in Wakefield this evening, producing a stellar set with some good old band antics thrown in to boot.
There is no shortage of material for this Kentucky-born collective, with eight years and four studio albums under their belts. The show offered something of a 'greatest hits to date', although just about all content from their latest and well-received long player released at the beginning of the year, 'Tell Me I'm Pretty', featured tonight. Applauded in the most, the album has plenty of Black Keys to it's sound thanks to producer Dan Auerbach's influence, with fuzziness woven into the band's '60s psychedelic with a dark edge' Rock vibe.
Following Chrome Pony, a four-piece from Nashville who delivered a short but steady warm up Garage Punk set (which was pleasant enough on ear and eye), 'Cry Baby' is tonight's launch pad for vocalist Matt Schultz and friends, setting something of a tone for the evening with the audience and band alike going completely nuts from the get-go. Schultz does more than his bit to fire everybody up, as does brother and guitarist Brad, the two of them evidently full of beans and in the mood for a party as they jump about the stage as if to avoid being caged themselves. A crowd surf and handful of songs later, including the popular single 'Take It Or Leave It', singer Schultz yells "Lets continue the celebration!" and their earlier hit 'Aberdeen' follows, while the singer jumps up and down like a pogo stick with hands, clapping along with serious intent and making sure the audience never cease to do likewise.
The show includes much from Cage The Elephant's album's four and three respectively, which they spend a good hour and a bit working through now, although there is a handful of gems from their prior two long players thrown in to keep the original fanbase happy. Despite the clear influence of Auerbach on their latest album, its distinct sound seemed in some way less obvious while being played on the stage tonight; whether delivering some of their more punk-influenced numbers such as 'Teeth' or the much calmer 'Too Late to Say Goodbye', each song seemed to naturally roll into the next and the performance never lacked punch.
The crowd appeared not to care what was dished up, obvious in its appreciation of each and every tune on offer, almost everybody here singing along word for word and jumping around as much as the Schultz brothers, many from the (dis)comfort of their mate's shoulders. On the band's announcing this as their first ever trip to Wakefield, a now somewhat common practice "Yorkshire! Yorkshire!" chant erupts around the northern venue, prompting drummer Jared Champion to provide some percussion and the band to pause for a laugh or three whilst the crowd stretched its own vocal chords.
With a sound akin to the Stones at times, Schultz also looks slightly Jagger-esque, too. His voice holds fantastically throughout the stretched out gig, even while on his back and surfing his way through the crowd. Stopping only briefly in between tunes to catch his breath before he and the band unleashed their next track and the associated pogo work-out for Schultz resumed, it's any wonder he managed to remain clothed in his black suit throughout the evening. Well, 'almost' the whole evening - he did manage to reach the encore before his top half came off, amidst more "Yorkshire! Yorkshire!" encouragement from the crowd. As older favourites 'Shake Me Down' and 'Sabretooth Tiger' see the venue at its craziest yet, so too does Schultz' crowd walking, bringing what had been a cracking night to a close.
FUTURE GIGS
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