Intern Take: Cage The Elephant Bring The Feels To Kia Forum (Live Review)

Cage The Elephant
“Neon Pill Tour”
The Kia Forum, Inglewood, CA
July 7, 2024

By Sae Phillips, Emerson College

There’s good reason why Cage The Elephant are selling out arenas like L.A.’s Kia Forum. They’ve put in the time, the work and in May released a lauded new album, Neon Pill, their first in five years and which followed 2019’s Grammy-winning Social Cues. Plus, their amazing live shows bring people together in ways rarely if ever seen.

Formed in 2006 in Bowling Green KY, the six-piece Cage The Elephant includes Matt and Brad Shultz, Nick Bockrath, Matthan Minster, Daniel Tichenor and Jared Champion. The group have played every major festival (Coachella, Glastonbury, Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, etc) and have toured with some of today’s biggest rock acts, including Queens of the Stone Age, Foo Fighters, Muse and most recently Beck who they co-billed with in 2019 after collaborating on the track “Night Running,” from Social Cues.

According to Pollstar Box Office Reports, the Cage-Beck double bill saw six-figure grosses including $679K on 11,592 tickets at Columbia, Maryland’s Merriweather Post Pavilion on Aug. 22, 2019 and $544K on 12,888 tickets at Pine Knob in Clarkston, Michigan on Aug. 3 of the same year. Cage are managed by Q Prime and are repped by IAG agent and Marsha Vlasic.

On Sunday, July 7, 2024, the band made their twelfth stop of their world tour in Los Angeles at the Kia Forum. Cage took full control of the building creating an electric atmosphere with technicolor lighting and set design and the music itself , which brought fans together: Notably, a father and his superfan daughter were seen dancing hand-in-hand to “Shake Me Down,” And a couple who came into the Forum loudly bickering, later lovingly sang “Halo” nearly mouth-to-mouth, touching each other’s faces as if they were apologizing to each other via the deep feels of the song’s lyrics, reciting to one another, “Tell me that you love me, Hold me tight, so we can always be friends.”

Cage seemed at home at Forum playing song after song and typically not announcing the following track, which kept fans engaged as they figured out each song in real time. Some fans had memorized the setlist from the previous eleven stops, while others wanted to be surprised and test their Cage The Elephant knowledge.

Among the many unforgettable moments, one especially stood out: Before performing their encore, which featured their chart-topping hits “Cigarette Daydreams” and “Come a Little Closer” from 2013’s Melophobia, lead singer Matt Shultz gracefully implored the audience to “check on [their] friends” pertaining to the struggles of mental health that many individuals go through every day. His insights helped make the concert even more personal and humanizing.

Cage The Elephant’s stage presence, though domineering and rich with soul, is also smooth and natural. Their stage is filled with large strobe lights that were synced to the drummer’s rhythm, noticeably staying with variable color schemes, including bright red, white, and neon green (fitting).

With thirty-three more stops to go including international plays in Ontario an Mexico City, Cage The Elephant will continue filling arenas and amphitheaters with their powerful catalog and bringing fans together from all over.

Alongside the headlining Cage The Elephant was Willow Avalon, Bakar, and Young The Giant. Though all three technically differ in their respective genres of music—ranging from country to several styles of indie and alternative rock—they told similar stories with recurring themes and testimonies such as the implications of being famous, unrequited love, and introspective reflections of the lives they’re living.

Willow Avalon graced the stage dawned in a pink number with tall Southern-styled leather boots, her signature fiery-red hair perfectly styled in a pin-curled fringe, with a sparkling pink microphone stationed in a mic stand wrapped in dainty flowers, and a guitar in hand. Her hyper-feminine and stylish exterior, her lyrical wit and strong vocals, topped with a satisfying twang was a beautiful opener to the night ahead. Avalon and her band, two bassists, a drummer, and a pedal steel guitarist, performed seven songs including her newest single, “Tequila or Whiskey.”

Bakar followed with an undeniable swagger that captivated audiences the moment he stepped on stage. The indie rock Londoner paused his performance of “Hell N Back,” his viral 2019 single, to playfully command audience members to get “on [their] feet!”, to which the audience obeyed and grooved to the funky tune. Bakar played eight additional songs that took us on a journey of ups and downs, coming-of-age, and evaluations of the past while sitting on a slanted platform replicating a roof. Bakar’s storytelling style felt like a long distance friend who debriefs you on the biggest events that have happened to them within the past year and you can’t help but sit and listen.

The last opener of the evening was Young The Giant, the five man group with soul and
energy that makes you want to headbang in the best way possible. From start to finish, the hype band made the crowd go wild, many fans singing their songs word for word, it was clear that this was the place to be on a Sunday evening. They played beautiful music but also gave many affirming words of wisdom. “Keep doing what you love, put intention back into the world, and you will find it back” were some words lead singer, Sameer Gahdia told audience members before playing “Mind Over Matter” one of their biggest songs.

Overall, this show was a delight – hard stop. It felt almost like a festival with disparate artists from different genres, incredible storytelling and amazing energy. What a treat.

(Intern Take is a new Pollstar platform for interns. Today’s review from Emerson College’s Sae Phillips comes via the Music Forward Foundation, a nonprofit that “bridges opportunities for the music community to become more innovative and inclusive by kick-starting music and live entertainment careers for the next generation through workshops, panels, internships and performances that connect passions to professions. MFF Focuses on young people aged 13-24 from under-represented communities providing access to a nationwide network of the music and live entertainment industries. To date, the organization has served over one million young people and provided more than $42 million in scholarships, workforce opportunities, relief funds, and more. Each year, the organization activates its network to impact more than 20,000 youth nationwide. More information on MFF here: https://musicforwardfoundation.org/)