Southern rockers Cage the Elephant, English indie band Foals, and recent local transplants J. Roddy Walston and The Business played a sold-out show at The National Saturday, which had tipsy Richmonders off their feet and dancing along to every song.
Southern rockers Cage the Elephant, English indie band Foals, and recent local transplants J. Roddy Walston and The Business played a sold-out show at The National Saturday, which had tipsy Richmonders off their feet and dancing along to every song. This concert was the third time I had seen Cage the Elephant live. The first time they came to Richmond, they opened for Silversun Pickups in 2009. The band returned as openers for Cake at the XL102 Chili Cook Off in 2012, but Saturday was the first time I saw them as a headlining act. For this concert, I came with a photo pass which made me feel like the coolest kid in the venue.
When I arrived at the National, the man operating the ticket window handed me a photo sticker, which allowed me to bring my Canon into the venue. I found a spot close to the stage, but there was no way I could get decent pictures, since I am only 5 feet tall. As the opening band, J. Roddy Walston and the Business took the stage, I decided to stay where I was and try for a new spot when the show ended.
J. Roddy Walston and the Business is from Cleveland, Tennessee, but Walston currently lives in Richmond. He has long hair and plenty of soul, and when he took the mic he was whipping his head around so much I barely saw what his face actually looked like. The band played their radio hit, “Heavy Bells,” early in the set, which had people literally howling by the end of the song. My favorite part of the performance was when an older man next to me started line dancing to the music. The band played a fairly short set; they began right at 8 p.m. and by 8:30 p.m., they were off the stage.
Before Foals took the stage, I found a security guard and explained my photography dilemma. The man gave me a confused look, and told me that with the photo pass, I could get in-between the barrier holding the crowd back and the front of the stage to take pictures. My mind was blown. After all the concerts I have attended at The National, the empty space he described was practically sacred, and it was only security who prowled there. Tonight, my camera and I would be inches away from the band. The guard told me I could only take pictures of the last three songs Foals performed, so I found a spot near the barrier and took in the beginning of their set.
Foals’ performance began with a light show filled with strobe effects, which lasted a few minutes. As the cheers of the crowd grew louder, the band took the stage and launched into their first song. Their music placed emphasis on instrumental sections, and had buildups similar to the band Explosions in the Sky. At times, they performed more hard rock songs like “Inhaler,” but then they would switch to dance tunes like “My Number.” The combination of their music and the light show made for an entertaining concert. When it was time for me to take pictures, I was so close that I could see the sweat dripping from the lead singer, Yannis Philippakis. At the end of their set, Philippakis doused himself with water and jumped from the stage into the photography pit, and marched towards me. I was practically hugging the stage to get out of his way. The singer walked around the barrier into the crowd, and the other photographers shrugged their shoulders and just waited until he came back. After a quick journey through the venue, Philippakis returned to the stage and finished the set.
For Cage the Elephant, I could take pictures of the first three songs they performed and I couldn’t have been more excited. While I waited, I made friends with a slightly drunk crowd member and we photobombed the people around us. Around 10:30 p.m., the lights went dark and the crowd roared for Cage.
The band opened with a guitar solo by Lincoln Parish, leading up to “In One Ear” from their debut self-titled album. The lead singer, Matt Shultz, jumped around the stage with so much energy that it was hard to take a clear picture. For a few seconds, the microphone blasted the audience with heavy feedback, and the vocals were cut off completely. During that time, the crowd was singing along so loudly it was barely noticeable. At times, Shultz leaned so far from the stage that I had to kneel down to take pictures of him.
Their set included a variety of songs from all three albums, such as “Spiderhead,” “Back Against the Wall,” and “Around My Head.” When they performed “Black Widow,” kids from Armstrong High School joined the band onstage as a standing horn section. Shultz dived from the stage into the crowd during the band’s encore performance of “Sabertooth Tiger.” During the bridge of the song, he stood up in the audience and said he felt like he was going to be eaten alive by the crowd. As the cymbals crashed and the guitars screamed, Shultz fell backwards and let the crowd carry him back to the stage. I enjoyed every second of their performance, and by the cheers of the crowd, it is a safe bet to say I wasn’t alone.
