Part Two: Electrics.

I’m not going to say we had the best seats in the house. We had the most amazing seats in the house. A gaggle of friends and I got the entire section of boxes on the left side of the Royal theatre making us the envy of the serfs below.

First to hit the stage was Cage the Elephant. If you weren’t a fan before after this performance I’m sure you were a fan. Matt Schultz flew around the stage in way only lead singers in bands can. Jumping into the orchestra pit, then into the crowd, running up the aisles singing his songs, and climbing speaker stacks. He reminded of me of an early Iggy and the Stooges show but also of my friends Dave and Jack from Italian Edition in the way he interacted with guitarist Lincoln Parish.

If you expect to see an almost rap performance you would be surprised at how much that isn’t a Cage the Elephant show. Proof you shouldn’t judge a band by it’s single. After Cage the Elephant finished their set to the crowd bursting in hysterical cheers and a standing ovation. This is unheard of for an opening band.

Next up was Manchester Orchestra. Andy Hull looking like a lumberjack with his red toque, flannel shirt, and Grizzly Adams beard (he stole my wardrobe). They burst into “Shake it out,” with Chris Freeman flailing around like he is having a seizure. Eventually Chris would play a little keyboard, and play the second set of drums on stage in unison with the drummer.

Manchester Orchestra played almost their entire new album ‘Means Everything to Nothing’ and didn’t stray to older works such as ‘Like a Virgin Losing a Child.’ Which was probably was only a disappointment to me as I seemed to be the only person there who owned albums by them previous to the new disc and this concert. After Manchester Orchestra finished with their set the crowd gave another well deserved standing ovation.

Between Manchester Orchestra and Silversun Pickups I braved the Royal Theatre to get a drink and check out the merch table. Everywhere I went I saw people with Manchester Orchestra albums obviously made believers after that show. I was also confronted several times by people I know saying “I should have listened to you about how good this band is.”

Eventually I made my way back up to my seat (first seat in the first box) in anticipation of the final act of the night. A Silversun Pickups show can only be described as a Silversun Pickups show. A band who is extremely talented and interesting to watch play. They mixed up the set list so it wasn’t all just songs off ‘Swoon’ all in a row every second or third song seemed to be off ‘Carnavas’ which was just wonderful.

Brian Aubert moved around a fair bit, but nothing like Matt Schultz of the Cage the Elephant. But with Brian and the rest of Silversun Pickups they were all smiles and you could see the gleam of happiness in their eyes.

Just before the encore Silversun Pickups played “Panic Switch” and “Lazy Eye” which ended with the third standing ovation of the night. A rare feat for three bands in a row, but well deserved in my opinion.

Three amazing bands in one night.