It’s rare when a cool band you really like is giving a concert in the city where you go to school, but it is even more rare when four cool bands you really like are on tour together with a stop at your college town. When I heard about a spring fling concert with Cage The Elephant, Silversun Pickups, Foals, and Bear Hands, not going just didn't seem like an option. I recruited a friend to accompany me for the concert, and together we trekked to The Petersen Events Center at the University of Pittsburgh last Friday.
Not accounting for the large hill we had to climb to get from Fifth Avenue to Petersen, we arrived a few minutes after Bear Hands’ set had already started. Luckily, we didn’t miss my personal favorite song of theirs. I’ve only really listened to a handful of songs by Bear Hands, but “Agora” stands out in my mind for the pop-y energy and excitement it conjures, and hearing it live was no different. I don’t tend to dance to music much, but “Agora” just makes me want to get up and move. Bear Hands finished off their short set with their most popular song “Giants,” and the audience started to get into the groove of the concert.
As the short break between bands ended, someone started repeatedly striking a single guitar chord onstage. My immediate reaction was annoyance as this unmusical noise interrupted a conversation with my friend, but soon the audience lights dimmed and the onstage lighting was set to match the guitar — like a visual representation of the sound itself. In general, the usage of lighting during the concert was cool. Even when a band was playing a song I didn’t particularly like or know, I could stay entertained by watching the colorful lights dancing around the audience section in front of me as they lit up the people mid-motion.
The British band Foals was up next. Out of the four bands that performed, Foals’ music probably conveyed the greatest variety of emotion. Early in the set, Foals played the catchy/dancey tune “My Number” from their 2013 album "Holy Fire," but then quickly jumped into the solemn “Give It All," changing the aura of the room on a dime. The next song Foals played was “Providence.” I had never listened to this song before but was overcome by the nearly palpable angst and frustration in lead singer Yannis Philippakis’s voice when he performed it, and will be adding the song to my current mental rotation of songs. Since I generally take time to get used to a piece of music before I truly start to enjoy it, this is no easy feat. The following song, “Spanish Sahara” was a pretty magical experience. “Spanish Sahara” has the atmosphere of a lazy summer afternoon, and in concert, it lulled the audience into a captivated trance. The last few songs in their setlist were fairly unremarkable, but, by that point, Foals had already made the audience feel all the feels.
The next to last band to perform was Silversun Pickups. With each new band, the audience’s energy grew, and their dancing became more bold and purposeful. Silversun Pickups’s entrance with the anthemic “Cradle (Better Nature)” was no exception. Even the visuals became more spectacular with Silversun Pickups’ set as bassist Nikki Monninger wore a shiny dress that reflected the dancing lights. After a few songs, the band played their new single “Nightlight.” If anticipation could be translated into a piece of music, that piece of music would be “Nightlight.” This is a song that increases my heart rate when I listen to it by myself with earbuds, so hearing it performed live in the middle of a large audience — singing along in a giant crowd — was incredibly powerful. Another notable song they played was “Friendly Fires.” I had heard the song a couple times before when playing through Silversun Pickups’s recent album,"Better Nature," but it did not previously pique my interest. Right from the song’s onset, instrumentation was minimal against lead singer Brian Aubert’s vocals. If you have ever listened to Silversun Pickups, you know that Aubert’s voice is simultaneously hissing, snarling, and melodic. During “Friendly Fires,” these contrastive qualities were particularly evident and sent shivers down my spine.
At this point in the concert, everyone was getting antsy for the main event: Cage The Elephant. When the band first entered the stage, Matt Schultz (lead singer) instructed everyone, including those of us in the seated audience section, to stand up and dance. It took a few songs before I felt the music flow through me and forgot to be self-conscious, but by the time the band played “Take It or Leave It,” I was living fully in the moment. I was captured by the song’s angst-ridden story of being held just out of reach of a potentially powerful relationship, wanting more than anything to be released from the torturous maybe-land. Cage The Elephant also played their new album favorites “Mess Around,” “Trouble,” and “Too Late To Say Goodbye,” but my favorite song from their new album "Tell Me I’m Pretty" was “Cold Cold Cold.” This song does a good job of showcasing the band’s influences while maintaining originality. While the strings have the claustrophobic reserve of a Joy Division melody, the percussion is startling and almost tormented. When Cage The Elephant left the stage, there was a clear consensus in the audience demanding an encore, particularly “Cigarette Daydreams.” Apparently Cage The Elephant can read minds, because they were back onstage within moments to satisfy this desire. “Cigarette Daydreams” is a pretty, daydreamy song, and happy couples slow-danced by their seats all around me.
“Cigarette Daydreams” is the kind of song one listens to for a moment of quiet reflection, so when I heard the song during spring fling, I felt no choice but to think about the ups and downs of my week. Regardless of everything else going on in my world, right then I felt grateful to have such wonderful music in my life, and a friend to share the moment with.
