Cage The Elephant stormed onto the scene with their debut self titled album in 2008, 16 years later the Bowling Green, Kentucky natives released their sixth studio album Neon Pill and brought their headlining tour to New York for their debut performance at the cities most famous arena — Madison Square Garden.
Commencing the festivities of the evening was southern belle, Willow Avalon. A native Georgian but living in Manhattan, Willow Avalon’s set was chock full of down south country vibes and deep rooted family connection. Avalon’s short, but sweet, seven song setlist was woven together through sound bites between songs of the matriarchs in her family conversing, singing and praising all things country and rock and roll. Willow Avalon’s smile was infectious as she brought the crowd together for assistance singing the chorus of her latest single “Homewrecker” to close out her set.
Up next, hailing from Camden Town, London, was Bakar. Donning a t-shirt that read “Cage The Bakar”, he dove straight into his first song “All In”. Being a solo performer alone on the stage of such a massive arena like The Garden can be quite the uphill battle to keep fans engaged, but Bakar knew exactly what he was doing during his performance. Halfway through his set, Bakar kicked off his star studded loafers and jumped down onto the amps in the photo pit, setting his mic stand up there to get closer to the fans. Despite his short six-song setlist, Bakar captivated the crowd and certainly did his part to get the arena pumped for the rest of the evening.
A brief stage transition ensued before the California indie rockers, Young The Giant took to the stage. The band opened their performance with “Jungle Youth” and their energy was infectious. Lead vocalist, Sameer Gadhia, wears his emotions on his sleeve while performing, providing fans with quite the intimate experience for a massive arena performance. After the first section of their set, Gadhia opened up to the crowd about Young The Giant’s career and their desire to constantly provide intimacy and connection during their shows and what challenges playing a venue like The Garden brings up in that. The moment of vulnerability was well taken as fans throughout the venue started to stand up and dance in their seats for the remainder of their set, which included several top hits like “Cough Syrup”, “Silvertongue” and “Apartment”. Young The Giant made sure to conclude their high energy, passionate and captivating performance with their biggest hit and a song that arguably defined a generation of indie rockers, “My Body.”
It had been five years since Cage The Elephant graced New York City with their presence. Needless to say, the crowd was growing restless with excitement for the performance to begin. Suddenly, the lights dimmed and, naturally, screams of excitement erupted throughout the venue. Cage The Elephant wasted no time and immediately ripped into “Broken Boy”, which included thrilling pyrotechnics during the choruses. Known for their semi-extreme performance energy, Cage The Elephant did not disappoint. Lead vocalist, Matt Schultz suffered a broken ankle and was forced to bring his usually energy from atop his rolling cart. However, lead guitarist and Matt’s brother, Brad Schultz, wasted no time getting up close and personal with fans, jumping into the crowd during “Cry Baby”.
Cage The Elephant played a lengthy but extremely entertaining setlist, absolutely dominating every inch of the 19,500 capacity venue. The band played 19 songs that spanned across their decade and a half long career, including hits “Ready To Let Go”, “Ain’t No Rest For The Wicked” and “Social Cues”. To conclude their monumental performance, Cage The Elephant returned to the stage for a four song encore that kicked off with the tour debut of “Back Against The Wall”, “Shake Me Down”, “Cigarette Daydreams” and concluded the evenings festivities “Come A Little Closer”.
Cage The Elephant and Young The Giant have both been pillars in my music journey, discovering them in high school during the thriving Tumblr days. It’s a true joy and treat getting to see bands that you grew up with reach continued success so many years later. Additionally, it’s refreshing to see veteran bands bring along new, young, fresh faces to tour with them like Bakar and Willow Avalon. For every artist on the bill that Thursday evening, it was their debut Madison Square Garden performance. And certainly, for many people in that room, on stage and in the crowd, dreams were achieved and crossed off the bucket list.
