Manchester Orchestra / Cage the Elephant @ Rams Head Live, Baltimore, MD, 5/8/11

This past Sunday, the Manchester Orchestra & Cage the Elephant co-headlining tour rolled through town, making a stop at Rams Head Live. I had no intention of intending the show until a day or so beforehand. Outside of a few songs here and there, I wasn't all too familiar with either bands' work, but, as is often the case, the best way you can check out a band is live, in concert -- that's where they show their true colors. Photographer Brett Dean joined me for the adventure. Below are some words and photos of the show.

All photographs courtesy of Brett Dean. Skip ahead to see a photo slideshow of shots from the concert.

Cage the Elephant are the type of band I probably would have dug when I was in high school. Every generation coming up seems to have their rock band, and, for all intents and purposes, that seems to be Cage the Elephant for those currently in their teen years. That's not to say that they are a teeny bopper rock 'n' roll band, but most of those packed up front were sporting X's on both of their hands.

Outside of their biggest hit ("Ain't No Rest for the Wicked"), I went into this show unfamiliar with the band's two studio albums. I had the impression that they played up the wild side of rock 'n' roll and infused their sound with a bit of southern rock charm. On Sunday, Cage the Elephant proved that they're a strong live band with singer Matthew Shultz bouncing all across the stage, doing his best Iggy Pop meets David Johansen. Shultz got the crowd into a frenzy, jumping out to crowd surf a few times -- he even managed to stand straight up with the support of the excited hands below. You could tell that the band loved what they were playing and were feeding off the energy from the crowd.

But the thing about Cage the Elephant is that they're pretty good, but not great. It's not that they were necessarily bad, but they lacked any defining characteristics. Mixing garage rock, southern rock, punk rock, psychedelia, and even grunge, they certainly aim to eclectic, but their eclecticism fails to produce one singular sound that sets the band apart from their influences and contemporaries. There are plenty who are looking for something that's just this -- nothing challenging, just fun and enjoyable -- and Cage the Elephant fits that bill. Personally, I was hoping for something a bit more, but, again, that's just my opinion. The band's alright and they certainly weren't awful on Sunday night, but there's wasn't much that was particularly memorable. As I said before, they are a solid live band.

Between Cage the Elephant and Manchester Orchestra, I was much more familiar with the latter. When I was in college, Manchester released their debut album I'm Like a Virgin Losing a Child, one that I certainly enjoyed. For a group of dudes just shy of 21 years of age, their debut showed a lot of promise. I didn't keep up with their output following that release outside of a few songs from their second album, Mean Everything to Nothing, so I, more or less, went into their set blind.

Opening song "Virgin" was heavy with detuned guitars and a slight nu-metal character, which was a bit of a disappointment coming from them. Despite its force, the song (from their new album, Simple Math) was outshined by their older material like "Shake It Out" and cuts from the debut album. What Manchester Orchestra proved with their set Sunday was that they've managed to work their Southern charm into songs that silence with singer-songwriter confessional moments and crush with soaring moments of crunchy, fuzzed out walls of guitar. Frontman Andy Hull caught the attention of the crowd and had the voices of fans join him when Manchester Orchestra's sonic muscle was reduced to a intimate moment of a single voice and a delicately strummed electric guitar. Keyboardist/percussionist Chris Freeman spent most of the set headbanging and thrashing around on his stool, even when he wasn't playing -- almost like a rock 'n' roll hype man.

The thing that struck me most about Manchester Orchestra on Sunday was their ability to sound massive and anthemic without any of the pretension of arena rock. With two guitars, a bass, a keyboard or two, drums, and a bucket of commitment to their craft, the band sounded incredibly confident and, at times, managed to capture the sweeping force of an orchestra in their ringing chords and passionate attack of instruments. For me, Manchester Orchestra still has room to grow with their material, but they do have more of their own musical identity than Cage the Elephant. What's more, as a live band, their huge sound and confident approach is certainly admirable and a force to be reckoned with.

You can listen to Manchester Orchestra's new album, Simple Math, and check out the rest of the photos from the show below.