This past Sunday, August 4, Cage The Elephant made a stop in Charlotte, North Carolina, on their Neon Pill tour. Charlotte marks stop number 20 on their North American tour, which spans roughly four months; from June to September. With three other artists opening for them, fans were in for a night of remarkable music and dancing.
Vlad Holiday kicked off the night at 6:30pm. He had the crowd waving their hands in the air and cheering as he played his set. I believe that he was a fantastic artist to start off the show with his alternative sound. Holiday’s set was canceled the previous night in Raleigh due to rough weather conditions, so you could tell that he was more than ready to start off his string of dates on this tour. With his cool, 70s/80s rockstar vibe, he captured the audience's hearts. He has an amazing stage presence and is able to keep the crowd engaged with his performance. When there's an artist like him opening for tours, it makes it even better to wait hours in line to secure that barricade stop! As he closed out his set, he received much praise from the fans. He also left me with a new item to add to my to do list; saving his albums to my Spotify library!
As a fog machine filled the stage, Bakar emerged to get his set started. Hailing from London, the indie rock artist got the crowd even more excited. This was his very first time in Charlotte, North Carolina, and you can tell that he was delighted to play for such a large crowd. Bakar’s set was also canceled the previous night like Vlad Holiday’s, but that made his set even more special. While his set was shorter, he kept the energy high by playing some of his songs like “All In,” “Alive!” and “NW3.” He was an artist that I thought was brand new to me until he played his hit song from 2019, “Hell N Back.” After leaving the photo pit, I immediately pulled up his Spotify to remind myself to take a deeper dive into his discography later! Bakar has a similar vibe to Dominic Fike, which I realized especially after he sang a rendition of Fike’s song, “3 Nights.” Once I recognized the lyrics of “3 Nights,” I was immediately enraptured with Bakar after that because I am a big fan of Dominic Fike’s music! With his fantastic stage presence, I expect to see and hear more of him in the future!
When Sameer Gadhia, Jacob Tilley, Eric Cannata, Payam Dootszadeh, and Francois Comtois, better known as Young The Giant, walked out on stage at 8:00pm, they were greeted with a roaring crowd. Immediately jumping into their set they started off with “Jungle Youth” off their 2016 album, Home of the Strange, getting the crowd pumped up. They played some of their most popular songs like “Cough Syrup,” off their 2011 self-titled album - Young The Giant, “Mind Over Matter,” off their 2014 album of the same name, and “Silvertongue.” Young The Giant was a band that I was itching to see live again after catching their set at Lovin' Life Music Festival back in May of this year. They have such a captivating stage presence and they always give their adoring fans an amazing show. There was not a moment where the band was not moving around the stage. We had the privilege to shoot from the photo pit for the first four songs, instead of the usual three, and I realized I could have stayed in that pit for the rest of their set, there was not a moment where I wasn’t holding my shutter down to capture the moment. With their powerful vocals and marvelous stage design, this band helped make the night even more magical. They tied up their set with “My Body,” leaving the crowd cheering and begging for more.
The crowd was ready and waiting for Cage The Elephant to come on stage. At 9:30pm the lights went down and the venue got loud when band members, Brad Schultz, Daniel Tichenor, Jared Champion, and Matthen Minster, emerged from backstage. Then lead singer, Matt Schultz, rolled out on stage with a knee scooter as a result of breaking his foot recently.
As the intro of their first song, “Broken Boy” rang out, flames began shooting out from the front of the stage. Immediately the crowd was jumping along. I had never been to a Cage The Elephant show before, but I have definitely been missing out. The band kept up the vibe for the entirety of their set with barely taking a break. They didn’t just stick to their newest album Neon Pill, which the tour was named after, they played a multitude of songs from all over their discography.
A large portion of their set was from their albums Melophobia (released in 2013), Social Cues (released in 2019), and Tell Me I’m Pretty (released in 2015). For their encore they played one song from Thank You Happy Birthday (released in 2011), “Shake Me Down,” then into “Cigarette Daydreams,” before they finished out their show with “Come a Little Closer.” Their set was full of flames, lasers, sweat, and screaming. Even with a broken foot, Matt Shultz was popping wheelies and bouncing on stage. The alternative indie/rock band gave the show of my life, this was definitely one for the books. When I told friends that I was photographing this show, all I heard was praise for how phenomenal they are on stage. The band definitely met my expectations. Each member of the band was rocking with the beat and playing their hearts out. I was playing their music on repeat the day after the concert. This show is easily in my top five of the best concerts that I have been to this year! Now I know to always be on the lookout for any possible performances near me because that concert was something special!
Cage The Elephant will continue on their tour throughout the rest of August and into September. They will continue having Young The Giant, and Bakar opening for them, with Vlad Holiday switching out with Willow Avalon on August 18. This is a show you definitely don’t want to miss with its star studded line-up!
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