_Cage The Elephant, Cameras @ The Oxford Art Factory, Sydney (28/01/2012)
Photo by Samantha Thomson
_
As well as being a Big Day Out highlight for many,
Kentucky's Cage The Elephant treated
those at Sydney's Oxford Art Factory to a rock and roll extravaganza. The
energetic and highly physical stage show was 75 minutes of pure entertainment,
amazing punters who were lucky enough to see them.
Supporting were up and coming Sydney indie band CAMERAS who impressed with a dreamy performance, dominated by Eleanor Dunlop's impressive vocal range. The fact that it was the five-piece's first official show with two new members was not obvious, as they ran a tight set - complemented by the two new girls who added a further air of governing femininity to the group. The intensely layered nature of their work and mesmerising male/female harmonies kept the crowd subdued but satisfied, with guitarist Fraser Harvey coolly sipping on a glass of red wine throughout - perhaps epitomising their ever maturing, chic sound.
In marked contrast to the support, Cage The Elephant raucously burst upon the stage and launched straight into the garage rock classic In One Ear, sending the crowd into an energetic frenzy. Vocalist Matt Shultz led the charge, darting around the whole stage whilst headbanging. The obligatory trend of crowd surfing began early on and was to last all the way through to the end, but Shultz amazingly kept composure both on stage and on-top-of-audience to flawlessly deliver the changes of pace required by catchy punk tracks such as 2024.
The band's energy was intense but never overwhelming, with each crowd surfing experience not being pointless or there to roughen up the show but instead working to feed Shultz's stage presence and entertaining demeanour - meaning it wasn't hard just to take it all in and not get involved if you preferred a more passive gig.
Pixies-influenced Aberdeen was an immediate highlight, its long guitar notes jarring against the shouting chorus to demonstrate that grunge clearly is not dead yet. Tiny Little Robots continued the ever increasing involvedness of the audience, with Shultz sent into an impressive side-flip and commenting that 'tonight we became one together' as two audience members found their way onto the stage. Shultz' crowd banter was always top-notch, such as one anecdote in which he proudly professed to eating the meat of a 'cute' little kangaroo while on the tour and another moment when he evoked the 1990 thriller movie "Misery" telling the crowd he'd like to fondly 'break all your knees' so 'we'll love each other forever' and not go away.
Around My Head was another standout, beginning with an entrancing audience singalong of 'ooohs', as Shultz dramatically paused the song before each chorus to talk, with the crowd hanging off every word. The transition from Japanese Buffalo into earlier track Back Against The Wall demonstrates the not uniform but noticeable shift in direction the band has gone into a heavier, more punk fuelled aesthetic. That being said, they were able to pull off the slower, tender moments in their work equally as well as the faster paced head-banging material - allowing for a varied and interesting live show.
Triple J approved single, Shake Me Down, elicited the biggest crowd response as the 'even on a cloudy day' refrain built up into a dramatic crescendo. Their mimicking of the style of bands such as Pixies and The White Stripes is obvious, but Cage find a way to respect it with an element of spontaneity and originality which adds to the comforting familiarity of most of their material to fans of the older bands. The insanity of Sabertooth Tiger rounded off the main set, with Shultz managing to stand quite readily on top of the middle of the crowd.
The masterful Ain’t No Rest For The Wicked opened the short encore, with a slighty fast version to maintain the electric atmosphere before they rounded off the show with a cover of Pavement’s False Skorpian, which worked to add a dimension of depth. Thus ended a great night, filled with great performances. If Cage The Elephant play here again – don’t be the one stupid enough to miss their show!
Oscar Coleman
Supporting were up and coming Sydney indie band CAMERAS who impressed with a dreamy performance, dominated by Eleanor Dunlop's impressive vocal range. The fact that it was the five-piece's first official show with two new members was not obvious, as they ran a tight set - complemented by the two new girls who added a further air of governing femininity to the group. The intensely layered nature of their work and mesmerising male/female harmonies kept the crowd subdued but satisfied, with guitarist Fraser Harvey coolly sipping on a glass of red wine throughout - perhaps epitomising their ever maturing, chic sound.
In marked contrast to the support, Cage The Elephant raucously burst upon the stage and launched straight into the garage rock classic In One Ear, sending the crowd into an energetic frenzy. Vocalist Matt Shultz led the charge, darting around the whole stage whilst headbanging. The obligatory trend of crowd surfing began early on and was to last all the way through to the end, but Shultz amazingly kept composure both on stage and on-top-of-audience to flawlessly deliver the changes of pace required by catchy punk tracks such as 2024.
The band's energy was intense but never overwhelming, with each crowd surfing experience not being pointless or there to roughen up the show but instead working to feed Shultz's stage presence and entertaining demeanour - meaning it wasn't hard just to take it all in and not get involved if you preferred a more passive gig.
Pixies-influenced Aberdeen was an immediate highlight, its long guitar notes jarring against the shouting chorus to demonstrate that grunge clearly is not dead yet. Tiny Little Robots continued the ever increasing involvedness of the audience, with Shultz sent into an impressive side-flip and commenting that 'tonight we became one together' as two audience members found their way onto the stage. Shultz' crowd banter was always top-notch, such as one anecdote in which he proudly professed to eating the meat of a 'cute' little kangaroo while on the tour and another moment when he evoked the 1990 thriller movie "Misery" telling the crowd he'd like to fondly 'break all your knees' so 'we'll love each other forever' and not go away.
Around My Head was another standout, beginning with an entrancing audience singalong of 'ooohs', as Shultz dramatically paused the song before each chorus to talk, with the crowd hanging off every word. The transition from Japanese Buffalo into earlier track Back Against The Wall demonstrates the not uniform but noticeable shift in direction the band has gone into a heavier, more punk fuelled aesthetic. That being said, they were able to pull off the slower, tender moments in their work equally as well as the faster paced head-banging material - allowing for a varied and interesting live show.
Triple J approved single, Shake Me Down, elicited the biggest crowd response as the 'even on a cloudy day' refrain built up into a dramatic crescendo. Their mimicking of the style of bands such as Pixies and The White Stripes is obvious, but Cage find a way to respect it with an element of spontaneity and originality which adds to the comforting familiarity of most of their material to fans of the older bands. The insanity of Sabertooth Tiger rounded off the main set, with Shultz managing to stand quite readily on top of the middle of the crowd.
The masterful Ain’t No Rest For The Wicked opened the short encore, with a slighty fast version to maintain the electric atmosphere before they rounded off the show with a cover of Pavement’s False Skorpian, which worked to add a dimension of depth. Thus ended a great night, filled with great performances. If Cage The Elephant play here again – don’t be the one stupid enough to miss their show!
Oscar Coleman