Cage The Elephant & Bear Hands @ The Fillmore

Another Cage show.  This time in the full-to-capacity Fillmore.  Such a good venue to see them in (compared to last year's support of Muse at Time Warner Arena).  Mike and I got there early as I wanted to see Bear Hands - had been hearing good things about them.  Unfortunately they weren't my thing and I kind of wish we'd stayed outside and had a beer somewhere else.

When Cage The Elephant came on the Fillmore was at capacity and from the first note singer Matt Shultz was on fire.  He exploded with his passion for his own music, and this energy immediately bled into the audience.  By the end of In One Ear the Fillmore was uncomfortably warm and would only get hotter (with relief not coming until we left).  The set was really heavy with songs from their latest album, Melophobia, which while good, meant a lot of great songs (James Brown, Indy Kidz, False Skorpions, 2024 etc) were left out - maybe a longer playing time is needed (hint hint).  Having said that, at my age it would've been hard to survive that intensity and heat for much longer.

I hope for great things for Cage The Elephant, they are a powerful live band, in a time where rock is not as relevant as it used to be.  The show they put on can really only be matched by either The Hives or Gogol Bordello for energy.  I'd like to see them do a longer set and vary their setlist to me more inclusive of some older songs, but I could say that about a lot of bands I've seen lately.

The Crap Facts:
This is my 375th concert.
This is my 10th concert at The Fillmore.
This is my 25th concert in Charlotte.
This is my 27th concert in North Carolina.
This is my 183rd concert in the USA.
Bear Hands are the 439th band I've seen.
This is my 5th Cage The Elephant concert.