Cage The Elephant | March 12, 2016

Cage The Elephant stormed Sacramento's Sleep Train Arena on a dreary Saturday night for the second stop on their "Spring Fling Rock AF Tour" with support that included Silversun Pickups, Foals and Bear Hands. With that kind of a line-up, the fact that this tour is hitting arenas shouldn't come as much of a surprise to anyone but in spite of the size of the venue, Sacramento's Fling went off as a very intimate show.

Cage The Elephant stormed Sacramento’s Sleep Train Arena on a dreary Saturday night for the second stop on their “Spring Fling Rock AF Tour” with support that included Silversun Pickups, Foals and Bear Hands. With that kind of a line-up, the fact that this tour is hitting arenas shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to anyone but in spite of the size of the venue, Sacramento’s Fling went off as a very intimate show.

The evening kicked off at 7 pm with as the crowd continued to trickle in out of the rain. Appreciative and polite but not particularly wild considering it was a Saturday, the room’s calm seemed to fuel Foals’ angry little frontman Yannis Philippakis as he wrapped their set with a two-finger salute and a mic drop.

Silversun Pickups rallied the crowd with an hour set that had the then-packed floor rapt and singing along. A band that never disappoints, the fun SSPUs are having on stage is infectious … leaving no doubt that they’d be doing what they do regardless of the size of the room and demonstrating how to properly tee up a room for the headliner.

… not that Cage The Elephant really ever needs teeing up. As the band casually strolled onto the stage, it became quickly apparent that the crowd which now packed the sold out general admission floor had been patiently conserving energy for the main event. Breaking into Cry Baby, frontman Matt Shultz quickly and completely dominated the stage, the other members of CTE knowing well-enough to stay clear as he romped and flailed his way around, occasionally pausing at the edge of the stage with a wide grin to tease the eager crowd which was already on-watch for one of Matt’s epic stage dives. So enthralling was Matt that much of the front row didn’t even seem to notice when his brother Brad hopped off the stage for some some shredding on the barricade step.

With their December release, Tell Me I’m Pretty, fresh out of the hopper, Cage appropriately doled out a healthy dose of the new material which was clearly already quite familiar the with crowd thanks to Mess Around’s hit status. The Spring Fling Rock AF 2016 Tour will wind down on April 1st in Providence, RI at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center. Keep your fingers crossed for the addition of an extra leg (or more) to this run.

Supporting acts: Silversun Pickups | Foals | Bear Hands

Setlist:

Cry Baby
In One Ear
Spiderhead
Take It or Leave It
Aberdeen
Too Late to Say Goodbye
Cold Cold Cold
Sweetie Little Jean
Trouble
Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked
Portuguese Knife Fight
Mess Around
Punchin’ Bag
Telescope
Back Against the Wall
It’s Just Forever
Teeth
Come a Little Closer
Cigarette Daydreams
Shake Me Down
Sabertooth Tiger

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