Cage the Elephant + As Tall As Lions – La Tulipe – Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

The level of energy at La Tulipe last night was astounding. The evening kicked off with Portland, Oregon’s Morning Teleportation. The normally 5 piece band of shaggy boys clad in plaid and tie-dye showcased their psychedelic alternative rock style. “Our bass player couldn’t get into the country [...] and on top of that, our van just broke down in your alley.” Despite their misfortunes, they played a fantastic set, borrowing As Tall As Lions bassist, Julio Tavarez, to play a few songs. Their high energy, 70s inspired sound got the crowd lively and moving.  The choruses were clean and easy to sing along too. The guitars, while ambient and smooth, were still full of energy. Lead vocalist and guitarist, Tiger, even used a talk box to get that classic Peter Frampton sound.

Next, Long Island, New York’s As Tall As Lions took the stage. They captivated the audience with their smooth, jazz-like, indie rock sound and clean, solid vocals. Bassist, Julio Tavarez, knows how to groove but despite several difficulties with the bass amp, they kept the show moving and got right back on track, showing us all how strong they are as a band. They also kept the audience entertained. “It’s our drummer’s birthday today. He likes whiskey on the rocks.” explained vocalist, Dan Nigro, while drummer, Saen Fitzgerald, played fills between sentences. They played songs off their self-titled album (“Stab City”, “Ghost of York”, “Milk & Honey”, “Song for Luna”) and some songs off of their more recent album You Can’t Take It With You. All in all, it was a flawless performance and they definitely converted non-fans into followers after last night.

Finally, the much anticipated Cage the Elephant claimed the stage, equipped with a large banner of their logo and a killer panda on the kick drum. If I could sum up their performance in one word, it would be energy. The entire band just completely owned the stage they played on with their phenomenal stage presence. Lead singer, Matthew Shultz, has a very Kurt Cobain-esque presence that just captivates everyone and allows them to unleash their inner animal. Devoted fans continuously sang along to every song, but once they started playing their more known tracks, everyone was singing and jumping and just simply going wild. “Back Against The Wall” started up a full on mosh pit, crowd surfing included. They will definitely be making a huge mark on music. They’ve brought back grunge and have got a ton of loyal fans backing them up every step of the way. They wrapped it up with their hit single “Ain’t No Rest For The Wicked” (in which the crowd carried out the chorus) and their first single “Free Love”. They didn’t even make it off the stage before fans started chanting “Elephant”. They came back on for an encore, playing their anthemic hit “In One Ear”. Lead guitarist, Lincoln Parish, threw himself into the audience and continued playing while fans swarmed around him screaming the lyrics back at him. Matt Shutlz closed the show by screaming “Tu es ma famille!” and jumping into the audience, standing on the arms of fans while they carried him to the bar.

I must say, it was one of the most energetic concerts I’ve ever seen and the level of talent that each band demonstrated met that level exactly. These bands are definitely something to be seen. Matt Shultz even took the time to get photographs taken with the large crowd of fans that followed him out of the venue. Not a single person left La Tulipe disappointed last night. It was definitely a show to remember. – Kailey Diogo

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Cage The Elephant

As Tall As Lions

Morning Teleportation

Photography by Leanne Craigmyle

Tags: Ain't No Rest For The Wicked, As Tall As Lions, Cage The Elephant, Kailey Diogo, La Tulipe, Leanne Craigmyle, March 9, Montreal, Morning Teleportation, You Can't Take It With You