Cage the Elephant, Portugal. The Man - May 12, 2016 - Skyline Stage @ the Mann, Philadelphia, PA

My brother and I outside the Skyline Stage.

Cage the Elephant arrived at the small outdoor venue in Philadelphia with opening act Portugal. The Man. It was my first time at Skyline Stage and the Mann. The skyline stage sits on top of the hill that the Mann rests upon. It is a smaller stage for bands who can't fill the larger Mann stage. From the top of the hill, the view of the Philadelphia skyline is incredible, one of the best spots the city has to offer.

I wasn't familiar with Portugal. The Man before the show and after seeing them I found out I wasn't missing anything. If you haven't figured out by now, I am more of an old school rock fan and Portugal. The Man is not my cup of tea. The band never acknowledged the crowd but instead had a hype man to do it for them. It's a terrible idea and you end up feeling nothing towards the band.

It was a relief when Cage the Elephant came on. They started with the Pixies like soft, loud dynamic "Cry Baby," the first song off the new album, Tell Me I'm Pretty. It was followed by the slow building intro of "In One Ear." The song kicked in and so did the energy from the band and the crowd. The set contained six of the ten songs from the new album and seven from the 2013 breakthrough album Melophobia. It was definitely a short set with the band playing for only about 80 minutes. It was disappointing but hopefully after another album or two they will have more material to choose from.

Unfortunately, the short set wasn't the only let down. The young crowd had the energy but it was upsetting that Cage the Elephant wasn't responsive. The crowd chanted "take it off" at lead singer Matt Shultz, trying to convince him to take off his shirt. Although it is something that Shultz has done on multiple occasion in the past, on this night the crowd was not going to get what they wanted.

Despite not responding to the crowd, Shultz was otherwise very active, jumping and dancing all over the stage. The mic leaves his mouth a lot and you would think he would run out of breath to sing. It makes it looks as though Shultz is lip-syncing the lyrics. However, he gets vocal help from bassist Daniel Tichenor and touring keyboardist Matthan Minster. They do such a great job pulling off the illusion that it took me two shows to figure it out.

When I previously saw Cage the Elephant, they opened for The Black Keys at the Wells Fargo Center in 2014. They brought their A-game and their energy was incredible. You could tell they were feeding off the large arena crowd. Shultz took off his shirt and started crowd surfing, something I've never seen at an arena show before. It made a lasting impact on the audience but I think Cage forgot about the amazing show they put on. Because of what I saw in 2014, I was expecting more and they didn't deliver.

Setlist:

Portugal. The Man:
1.  Hip Hop Kids
2.  Atomic Man / Gimme Shelter (The Rolling Stones cover)
3.  Guns & Dogs
4.  Head Is a Flame (Cool With It)
5.  Got It All (This Can't Be Living Now)
6.  Evil Friends
7.  Modern Jesus
8.  Holy Roller (Hallelujah)
9.  Creep in a T-Shirt
10. Feel It Still
11. All Your Light (Times Like These) / The Home / I Want You (She's so Heavy)
12. Purple Yellow Red and Blue

Cage the Elephant:

1.  Cry Baby

2.  In One Ear

3.  Spiderhead

4.  Take It or Leave It

5.  Aberdeen

6.  Too Late to Say Goodbye

7.  Cold Cold Cold

8.  Trouble

9.  Ain't No Rest for the Wicked

10. Mess Around 

11. Punchin' Bag

12. Telescope

13. Back Against the Wall

14. It's Just Forever

15. Come a Little Closer

Encore:

16. Cigarette Daydreams

17. Shake Me Down

18. Teeth