One thing I can say about the Cage the Elephant show on Wednesday, November 11th, at In The Venue is that my ears will forever be changed.

…this is mostly due to the fact that I don’t think I’ll ever be able to hear properly out of them from now on, but I guess it all still remains true.

The damage was worth it, however, without a doubt. I remember there was a guy who, in between one of the set changes, had a conversation with his buddy that went something like this:

Guy 1: Man, I really should’ve brought some earplugs for this thing…

Guy 2: I dunno dude, if this is the last thing I ever hear, I think I’d be alright with that.

Here here, random guy in front.

The Shackletons

Chambersburg, PA’s The Shackletons started off their set like many opening bands inevitably do: with some technical difficulties. For these guys, it happened to be that singer Mark Redding couldn’t hear himself at all, but he waved this away by saying he “didn’t sing well at all anyways.”

Which…was basically true, but, as is the case with the band they were opening for, great singing isn’t always an essential element for “good” music. Redding basically acted as a “vocal encourager” for the music, getting more and more passionate as the energy in the specific song would build.

What’s more, the band had somewhere along the 23 dates the band had been playing with Cage The Elephant, they picked up a TON of these vines and roses that they just had strewn across the entire stage. Throughout the show, Redding would get more and more into it and just start throwing them into the crowd, clutching them to his chest as he wailed into the mic, or swinging them around his head while the song continued. Yep. Awesome, it was.

Musically, these guys had some pretty catchy stuff. I got the feeling that their recorded music may be a little more together, but as nuts as they were, they still kept things really solid during their show as well.

You can check out their website, along with a few songs of theirs, right here, and decide for yourself :)

Morning Teleportation

Portland band Morning Teleportation had one of the shortest, but greatest sets of that night.

I won’t lie, these guys without a doubt had the most talent out of the three groups that played at the show. Like I said above, that isn’t always a necessity for a good show, but it’s definitely a very noticeable feature about Morning Teleportation.

By the looks of the guys, I wasn’t too sure what to expect. At least going by Tiger (vocals, guitar) and Paul (bass, vocals), I was getting the feeling that a 45-minute trip-fest was about to come up that only those on heavy amounts of LSD in the audience would fully appreciate.

…Which still may have been true, but I really enjoyed what came out of the band. It had much more of an indie vibe to it than I was expecting, which they pulled off really well. Think of a slightly more “out there” Wolf Parade.

Along with professionally pulling off time signature changes left and right, epic guitar solos, and a wide array of instruments, the band also just had a really great time with the audience. While putting together his 3-tiered keyboard setup before the show, keyboardist Travis put on a bit of a pre-show for the crowd in front, letting them all know he’d have his ass in their faces for the next little while. He was groped moments later.

You can check out the band’s myspace page right here.

Cage The Elephant

I’ve already said it, but these guys make it worth repeating: You don’t necessarily need to have talent bursting out of you at all moments to put on a good show. And really, Kentucky rock band Cage The Elephant aren’t all that talented to be honest.

But good God can they put on an awesome show.

During their set at In The Venue, the group had so much energy, the majority of which came from singer Matt Shultz, that you really could not keep yourself from rocking the hell out.

Shultz really did lose his mind though, as he is prone to do from watching some of their other live videos. Here’s some footage I shot during their set that I put together…this should put it into perspective a bit:

Yep. It was awesome :)

In the end, however, I think the group’s strongest songs during the set had to be those off of their new, self-titled album, such as “Back Against the Wall”, “Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked”, and (my favorite of the night) “In One Ear”. This was mostly for two reasons:

1. These guys are just barely getting onto the popularity train, so there are a bunch of songs that show up on their setlist that people just plain didn’t know. Because of this, not that many people could really get that into them and, sadly, the band’s energy dropped a little bit because of that.

2. Their new album is MUCH softer than their other stuff. On their last song, “Saber-Toothed Tiger”, all you could really distinguish through the giant wall of noise coming from the stage was Shultz’s occasional scream into the mic. It was a little much…

Even so though, the guys from Cage just put on a really fun show, there’s no doubt about it. I highly recommend you go see them next time they come through.

…just maybe follow Random Guy In Front’s advice and bring some ear plugs if you want to listen to anything after them.

1. Dr. Dr. Dr.
2. Tiny Little Robots
3. Lotus
4. Aberdeen
5. Back Against the Wall
6. Japanese Buffalo
7. Back Stabbin’ Betty
8. Indie Kids
9. Monkey Disease
10. Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked
11. Free Love

Encore:

12. In One Ear
13. Saber-Tooth Tiger

Thanks for checking in everybody!

Check back here tomorrow, I’ll have some fun goodies up here too that I’m sure you’ll enjoy :)

Y!L!N!