Rabid elephants were let loose — only to be chased by sabertooth tigers — inside GLC Live at 20 Monroe in Grand Rapids, Michigan, as Cage The Elephant delivered a ferocious, sold-out show on Sunday, October 19, 2025.
Fresh off a summer headlining major festivals across North America — and an epic opening slot on Oasis’s 2025 stadium tour — the Kentucky-bred rockers were ready to combust inside the 2,500-capacity venue.
Intimacy was shattered as the walls seemed ready to cave in from the sheer force of the music and the crowd’s energy.
“Every night is just like turning up a couple notches,” vocalist Matt Shultz told the crowd early in the set. “Tonight is rivalling two nights ago, and honestly, two nights ago was the best night all tour.”
He added, “I’ve been talking about it all tour—one of the best things about this job, if you want to call it that—it doesn’t really feel like one—is that we get to give you an excuse to lose yourself. I just want to be the scaffolding for the party, build you up to lose yourself. If you’re going to find anything in life, you’ve gotta lose yourself first.”
From there, the show spiraled gloriously into chaos.
During ‘Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked’, guitarist Brad Shultz tossed his guitar to a tech before launching himself into the crowd, grinning ear to ear, then climbing back on stage without missing a beat.
Matt, meanwhile, was a kinetic blur—leaping, contorting, and using his mic stand like a springboard to nearly launch himself toward the ceiling.
For ‘Telescope,’ Brad joined his younger brother at the front of the stage as the crowd lit up the room with phone flashlights, the song’s delicate glow contrasting with the raw frenzy that came before. The brothers shared a brief, genuine hug before diving back into the chaos.
Then came one of the night’s most endearing — and telling — moments.
Between songs, Brad chased Matt around the stage trying to grab the mic, in a scene that felt like two kids wrestling over a TV remote.
“You’re behind the guitar, I got the mic, get off me—it’s my turn,” Matt joked, before finally letting his older brother take the spotlight.
“Every night, Matt introduces everybody,” Brad said.
“But he never gets an introduction. I want to introduce my brother, who I love with all my heart and soul—Matthew Ray Shultz.”
The crowd erupted.
Closing out their main set, Cage broke into pure rage with a roaring, heavy performance of their punk banger ‘Sabertooth Tiger’ from the 2011 album Thank You Happy Birthday.
After collectively catching their breath from having to “run away from the beast,” the audience filled the room with chants of “Cage! Cage! Cage!”
When the band returned, they closed out the night with staples ‘Shake Me Down’, ‘Back Against the Wall’ and ‘Come a Little Closer’.
A beautiful moment arrived during ‘Cigarette Daydreams’, which turned the venue into a collective singalong so powerful the band stopped playing altogether, letting the audience carry the melody.
Openers Vlad Holiday and hey, nothing had set the tone early, warming up the sold-out crowd with hazy alt-pop textures and jangly indie charm — but Cage The Elephant took things to another level.
It was the kind of night that reminded everyone why this band still feels like a living, breathing explosion after all these years — raw, reckless, vulnerable, and impossibly human.
In a space small enough that Matt Shultz could practically reach out and touch the back wall, Cage The Elephant played like they were still trying to break through it.
Here are SWOMP’s photos from the performance:
Cage The Elephant
hey, nothing
Vlad Holiday
