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home » festivals » Rock Ness » Rock Ness 2008
Cage The ElephantRock Ness 2008Tuesday 17th June 2008 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.  review by Tommy Jackson photos by Tommy Jackson
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