Concert review: Cage the Elephant w/ Young the Giant and BAKAR | 09.12.24, Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre (with photo gallery)

Photo of Cage the Elephant’s Matt Schultz by Laura Jerele

The show must go on! Well, at least it does when you are a band as spectacular as Cage the Elephant with a huge tour ahead of you and your super dynamic (and beyond energetic) front man breaks his foot. In fact, the show did more than just “go on.” 

Cage delivered one helluva performance complete with lasers, fire, a massively psychedelic light show, a bit more fire—and all with lead singer Matt Schultz on a scooter while said broken foot was cradled in an airboot. Somehow Schultz managed to make the scooter look both effortless and cool while doing tricks on it, hopping on and off of it, and probably compromising his injury just because he could not harness or hold back his in-your-face energy. That dude had that thing all rolling around the stage and he somehow managed to make that thing look, well, really freaking cool.

I’ve been lucky enough to see this band many times throughout their career as they’ve worked their way up to a venue as big as our beloved Riverport, I mean, Hollywood Casino Amphitheater. Every time I’ve seen them, they have blown me away with their energy, volume, and effortless, articulate playing, even when in a tiny club. But there is something about a massive, outdoor summertime venue that just fits everything that is Cage the Elephant. This tour is supporting their latest release Neon Pill, but the set list was pure magic with over 20 songs from a luxe catalog with bangers like “Spiderhead,” “Ain’t No Rest For The Wicked,” “Come A Little Closer,” and “Cigarette Daydreams.” The band—Brad Schultz (rhythm guitar), Nick Bockrath (lead guitar), Matthan Minster (guitar, keyboards), Daniel Tichenor (bass), and Jared Champion (drums)—deserve these massive stages and big setlists. Their music was made for productions this large—hell, even their club days had the feel of an arena act squished into a shoebox. Tonight, their fans came out in huge fashion, screamed their hearts out and sang along to damn near every word. Ain’t no rest for the wicked, for sure.

Young the Giant, an incredible band in their own right, opened the show and put on what felt like a headlining set. This was not a quick on-and-off-the-stage-in-30-minutes stint, they truly performed at maximum volume with full production and lights to where it almost felt like a double bill. “Mind Over Matter” and “Cough Syrup” were definitely crowd favorites from the swell of noise the second those songs started, but when they ended their set with their mega hit “My Body,” the whole audience was jumpin’!

BAKAR was such a cool and unusual choice to add to the bill as an opening slot. It’s a lot to take a big stage with just a microphone, but he managed it easily and brought his ultra-British cool, melodic blend of indie, rap, and funk. He was fun, refreshing, and his songs are catchy as hell. | Laura Jerele