Cage the Elephant
Oct. 22, 2025
The Agora, Cleveland, OH
Openers: Vlad Holiday and Hey, Nothing
By Rob McCune
Looking, and moving, more like a cheetah than an elephant, Cage the Elephant frontman Matt Shultz burst onto the stage at The Agora in Cleveland during a stop on the band’s Neon Pill tour in a skintight spotted shirt and sunglasses.
For 90 minutes and a 21-song set, including a four-song encore, he seemingly spent as much time in the air as on the stage – leaping and flailing with the energy of a full uncaged safari. This show was packed with hit after hit, too, begging the question: Has Cage the Elephant ever written, recorded and released a song that hasn’t been played incessantly on mainstream alternative rock radio?
The Cleveland crowd was ready for it, fully engaged, doing their best to jump and wave their arms in sync with Shultz though very little wiggle room existed in the packed arena.
Opening acts Vlad Holiday, a Romania-born master of guitar who collaborated with Cage’s Shultz for a track on his 2024 debut album, and Atlanta-based emo-folk band Hey, Nothing succeeded in warming up the room. While Holiday’s set felt moodily atmospheric, haunting at times, the youthful folk of Hey, Nothing turned up the fun, even forcefully engaging the fans in a singalong of “Hitchhiking.”
Nothing’s cooler than a band like Cage the Elephant, already skyrocketed to the top of the charts, making room on their stage to lift up young and lesser-known bands and musicians.
Cage is touring their latest, sixth album, Neon Pill, out since May 2024 – and the set featured both the title track and “Good Time,” a stomper that expertly mixes the band’s hip-hop-spitting rhythm and eclectic electric eccentricities.
Their set also mixed in hits from the band’s other five records, including bangers “Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked” and “Back Against the Wall” off the self-titled 2008 debut. Other crowd-pleasers included fifth-album tracks “Skin and Bones” and “Ready to Let Go.”
This concert took place on the eve of Cage singer Matt Shultz’s 42nd birthday, and his brother and lead guitarist Brad Shultz led the crowd in an impromptu chorus of “Happy Birthday.”
Fittingly, the band also played two songs off their second album, “Thank You, Happy Birthday,” walking off stage to “Sabretooth Tiger,” before coming back for an encore that included “Shake Me Down.”
Massive hits “Cigarettes Daydreams” and “Come a Little Closer,” off their third album, Melophobia, closed out the encore with a raucous bang.
Renowned for their exceptional memory, the Elephants and Cage the Ele-fans at the Agora certainly won’t forget this night anytime soon.
Rob McCune is Every_Thing_After_Photo on Instagram, where he shares his concert photography and reviews, as well as clips from his “Every.Thing.After” podcast, with interviews with musicians and bands.
