Due to a last minute line-up alteration, Kentucky funk-blues outfit Cage The
Elephant were elevated to a headline position on the Go North stage. Whilst
this may seem like a very good thing indeed, being pitted against both
Underworld and Razorlight could be seen as something of a disadvantage, and
could also be the reason why the tent was almost empty as their incendiary
set began. However, anyone who was anywhere else for the all too short half
hour duration of their set will surely come to regret it. Without a doubt,
Cage The Elephant were the most exciting thing on the Rockness bill.
Frontman Matt Schultz took to the stage looking somewhat worse for wear, and
wearing a less than flattering yellow and pink minidress. Clearly having
indulged in several bottles of the finest hospitality Scotland had to offer,
the signs were not good, and this could easily have been a car crash of a
set. It wasn't. It was, quite simply, stunning.
Sounding like the bastard love-child of the Stones and Beck that was raised
on a staple diet of the Pistols and The Doors, Cage The Elephant have pure
excitement flowing through them, and it was poured out in its entirety
during this phenomenal set. The highlights came thick and fast, with 'Ain't
No Rest For The Wicked', 'Free Love' and 'Soil To The Sun' setting the
standard.
The band played an impressively tight set, carving the music around
Schultz's less than reliable vocal part. The result was a lurching, DIY feel
which one could not help but feel excited by. At a time when a band's entire
set is often planned out in minute detail, the refreshment brought to the
Rockness table by Cage The Elephant was exhilarating in the extreme.
Clearly dissatisfied with the distance between band and crowd, the enigmatic
frontman spent much of the set cavorting with the crowd, both from the
security pit and in the crowd itself. For the blissfully anarchistic finale,
guitarist Brad Schultz joined his brother on his knees in the middle of the
circle created by the now swelling audience, and together with the rest of
the band they tore through an apocalyptic take on 'Tiny Little Robots',
ending it broken, exhausted, and triumphant. There's an old adage in
showbusiness - 'always leave them wanting more' - Cage The Elephant have
that particular trick mastered. There is no doubt we will be seeing much,
much more of this stunning live act.
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