Alt rock took center stage on Thursday 8/22 as Young the Giant accompanied Cage The Elephant to Mansfield’s Xfinity Center. The Neon Pill Tour celebrated Cage The Elephant’s first new album in 5 years, and coincides with the 10-year anniversary of Young The Giant’s sophomore album Mind Over Matter.

Early arrivals were treated to a surprising opening set by Willow Avalon, whose twangy country folk stood out from the rest of the evening’s lineup. Bakar quickly followed up with a solo set that pushed the sound more firmly into indie rock territory in preparation for Young the Giant. The stage saturated with smoke to announce their arrival, and by then the crowd had filled in as well. Young The Giant delivered with a performance that energized the audience throughout their hour on stage. Despite acknowledging the decade of Mind Over Matter and their recently released anniversary edition of the album, their setlist for the evening was a diverse selection that spanned their 5 albums and featured an unreleased new song, “God As Witness.”

Cage The Elephant launched into their headlining set with an explosive energy, and while Young the Giant started with smoke, Cage The Elephant began with fire: flamethrowers, to be more specific. Front man Matt Shultz rolled confidently onto the stage on a scooter, sporting a boot protecting his broken right foot. There was some irony to the first song on the setlist being “Broken Boy,” particularly considering the setlist has remained largely unaltered since before Shultz fractured his foot on stage earlier in the month in Georgia. Regardless of the injury, Cage The Elephant gave an indisputably robust, physically demanding performance. The setlist seemed to favor their back catalog, with relatively few selections from Neon Pill, but the audience was obviously happy to hear the hits. The electricity between band and crowd was a sight to behold, and Cage The Elephant produced a shockingly uninhibited show.

Check out all of Greg’s photos from the show below.