Cage the Elephant W/ Portugal. The Man Live
June 21, 2016 ~ Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles
Raggedy clothing, girls in hip outfits and ridiculous sunglasses, and dirty looking people with freshly trimmed facial hair – there must be a rock show goin’ on or something. However, this wasn't just any rock show. It was THE "Cage the Elephant" and THE "Portugal. The Man" playing on the same goddamn bill. This was all going down at the beautiful Shrine Auditorium in L.A. with a sold out crowd full people ready to rock.
Before I go into detail about Cage and Portugal, I must mention Sunflower Bean, the band that opened up for them. Self-admittedly, I had absolutely no knowledge of this band going into the show, but I left very pleasantly surprised. Three people walked on stage: a scruffy-looking drummer, an attractive female bass player with quite short hair, and a guitar player with the most magical set of pants I ever saw. Together, they started playing a blend of catchy hooks, psyched out fuzz guitar, and long droning kraut jams in between. Sunflower Bean put on a very nice opening set and I suggest everyone to check ‘em out. Listen here:
At approximately 8 o’clock, the lights lowered and the intro to Kanye West’s “Black Skinhead” started playing. It was time for Portugal. The Man. A random man named Chris Black came out to introduce Portugal and proceeded to act as Portugal’s hypeman throughout the set. He moved back and forth on the stage mouthing the lyrics to their songs and occasionally filming the audience with his phone. I have no clue why Portugal would have a hype man on stage; maybe it was done ironically, maybe not. Either way, I would have much rather seen Portugal. The Man interact with the crowd instead of Chris Black. Performance-wise, Portugal was very stagnant. Very little movement and almost no talking to the crowd. Singer/guitarist John Gourley had almost no stage presence and spent most of the time with his back to the audience.
Musically, however Portugal. The Man was stellar. They were tight, precise, and creative. The majority of their setlist was from Evil Friends and In the Mountain In the Cloud with a new song as well. The band effortlessly transitioned from song to song. They extended songs, shredded on said extended songs, and infused little mini-covers into them. Songs like The Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter,” “So Fresh So Clean” from Outkast, and the epic ending to The Beatles’ “She’s So Heavy” felt like little Easter eggs you can find throughout the set. While Portugal. The Man wasn’t the most fun band to watch, they were an absolute treat to listen to.
John Gourley (Portugal. The Man), Photo by: Gabriel Molina
Whatever stage presence Portugal. The Man lacked, Cage the Elephant damn sure made up for. The lights dimmed for the second time, and guitarist Brad Shultz came up to the center mic to declare, “If you’re sitting down, get the fuck up.” Then vocalist Matt Shultz came barging on stage to join the rest of the band to blister through the Tell Me I’m Pretty opener “Cry Baby.”
First off, Matt Shultz is one of the best frontmen in the game. He has the confidence and swaggering movements of Mick Jagger and the fearlessness of Iggy Pop. The pace that he keeps the whole show is ridiculous to say the least. He will rush from one side of the stage to the other over and over and hurl himself into the crowd. Matt Shultz don’t give a shit what’s in the crowd, he’s going in there.
Get a feel for Cage the Elephant's live sound in this video:
However, Matt Shultz’s frontman abilities should not take away the fantastic job the rest of the band does performing as well. Guitarist Brad Shultz has no problem getting involved in crowds as well, as he goes tumbling into the audience, usually throwing his guitar up to the stage instead of the more preferred method of carrying it back with him onstage. Forget coal mining, Alaskan crab fishing, or being the president, being Brad Shultz’s guitar tech has to be by far the most difficult job in the world. The band ripped through an 18 song setlist with a very good mix of songs from all four albums. The majority of the songs came from Tell Me I’m Pretty and Melophobia. My personal highlights from this set were “In One Ear,” “Spiderhead,” and the last song of the night, “Teeth.” “Teeth” ended with a barrage of feedback and noise that accumulated more and more from the various instruments left unattended (or thrown on the ground in Brad Shultz’s case). Meanwhile, Matt Shultz tried to give anything not valuable on the stage to the audience. He started throwing out crumpled up setlists, foam mic caps, guitar pics, etc. After scavenging the stage, Matt Shultz staggered off stage and thus concluded the night.
Three bands went on, and three bands left delivering some quality rock n’ roll. Sunflower Bean was great to hear for the first time and I will look forward to hearing more from them. Portugal. The Man may have been underwhelming in the stage presence department, but they came out and delivered a great, solid set full of fun surprises. Cage the Elephant did what they did best: rocking your fucking face off with sky-high energy and engaging performances and anthem-like songs.
8.5/10
Header Photo by: Jasmeet Sidhu
Check out Cage the Elephant's website for music, merch, tour info and whatnot:
https://www.cagetheelephant.com
And Portugal. The Man here:
