REVIEW: CAGE THE ELEPHANT @ XFINITY CENTER 8/22

All Photos Courtesy of Christopher J Borders-Split

Review by Holly Gustavsen

On Thursday, Cage the Elephant stopped in Mansfield, Massachusetts for the 30th concert in their Neon Pill Tour.  

Cage the Elephant is a well-established rock band with six studio albums and two Grammy awards to their name. Their most recent album, “Neon Pill”, was released on May 17, 2024, and lead singer Matt Shultz described it as the first time the band was “consistently uninfluenced”. Cage the Elephant has been making music since 2006 and currently consists of Matt and his brother Brad Shultz on guitar, Daniel Tichenor on bass, Jared Champion on drums, Nick Bockrath on guitar, and Matthan Minster on keyboard.

After opening sets from Willow Avalon, Bakar, and Young the Giant, the crowd was excited and ready for Cage the Elephant to take the stage at Xfinity Center. The band came out at 9:25 p.m., right on schedule, and opened with “Broken Boy” from their 2019 album “Social Cues”. Matt Shultz notably entered on a knee scooter with a walking boot on his right foot. The first song ended with pyrotechnics, and I could already tell this would be a magical concert. The band continued straight into their next song “Cry Baby” and guitarist Brad Shultz played the song from the crowd, building the excitement. 

Despite the scooter, which Matt jokingly referred to as his “sweet new ride”, Matt was jumping on one leg and gliding around the stage with more energy and enthusiasm than I would expect from a man with a broken foot. The crowd fed off of Matt’s energy, handbanging and clapping along with him.  

Cage the Elephant played a variety of songs from all six of their albums including fan favorites like “Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked”, “Ready to Let Go” and, my personal favorite, “Trouble” which was bursting with energy and bass compared to the more relaxed studio recording. Between songs, Matt repeatedly expressed his love for the fans and gratitude for their support. During “Telescope”, fans illuminated the venue with their phone flashlights for a tender moment before the band switched back to their high-energy performance full of flashing lights, lasers, and pyrotechnics for the final three songs of the main show. At around 10:35 p.m., Matt held up finger hearts and the band left the stage to roaring applause from the crowd. 

Fans did not have to wait long for the encore; about three minutes later the band returned to the stage to perform three more songs. The first song, “Shake Me Down”, was met with more deafening applause. After the crowd had quieted down, Matt asked for help with the next song saying “If you know it, sing it” before the first notes of “Cigarette Daydreams” started playing to which the crowd responded with even louder cheers. During the song, Matt held out his microphone for fans to sing the last chorus alone. The echo of thousands of people singing together gave me chills. Matt thanked the crowd one final time before performing the last song of the night, “Come a Little Closer” with fans singing the line “‘time flies by,’ they all sang along” especially loudly.  

With just lights and the occasional flame to decorate the stage, the band’s performance really shined. Even if you only know “Cigarette Daydreams” or “Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked”, you should try to see Cage the Elephant live, and expect to leave a bigger fan than when you arrived.