Wildfire Reviews: A mini Coachella arives in Rochester Easter Weekend, A-

Above: Cage the Elephant rock out the Main Street Armory at 2016's Spring Fling on Saturday, March 26, 2016. Photo Credit Rachel F Van Slyke

Although the first few bands suffered from sound, Cage the Elephant made up for that with an energizing and memorable performance at Rochester's Main Street Armory Easter Weekend. The event was sold out, proving that a bunch of indie bands can still hold there own and more.
The best thing about 2016's Spring Fling was the line up. It was and still is one of the best tour line up of recent years for fans of the genre. Cage the Elephant headlined the massive event with the likes of indie favorites Foals and Silversun Pickups with Bear Hands. The event drew an even more massive crowd to Rochester's Main Street Armory, filling the venue to capacity.

The crowd was like a mini Coachella. They got into it, with constant jumping, screaming and crazy dancing to every group, which was a pleasure to see in itself. The crowd consisted of mostly younger folks below the age of 21, with an average mixture of both male and female in attendance. The only older people there were taking their kids to see the show.
There were even plenty of crowd surfers for Cage, a rare thing for an indoor venue like the Armory. Still, you could tell everyone there was having fun. Even the few bleachers above the main floor were completely packed with people.

Bear Hands seemed to get the crowd going, and their unusual style of music proved to be a good opener for the event Easter weekend concert. While they weren't amazing, the opener wasn't horrible either.
The surprise group of the night was English group Foals. With amazing energy and a fantastic lead guitarist and vocalist, the group plowed through a great set consisting of both old and new songs. The crowd really got going for them. You could tell as many people wanted to see them just as much as Cage or Silversun Pickups. The gentlemen of Foals looked the rock and roll part and acted it, delivering great guitar solos and riffs that evenly matched lead vocalist and guitarist Yannis Phillipakis stride, despite microphone issues.
Sound issues continued to plague the next group as well.

While they gave it all and were just as energetic as Foals, it was hard to hear Silversun Pickups throughout most of their performance. It was a great mixture of music Easter Weekend in Rochester as each band, although all considered indie rock, have completely different styles of music. However, because of the sound issues and not being able to hear the lead vocals, Silversun Pickups were perhaps the least favorable group of the event in Rochester. Despite this, the Pickups did play most of their hits and lead singer and guitarist Brian Aubert was humble more then ever.

Cage the Elephant conquered the sound issues as they graced the stage. The microphone and vocals improved one hundred percent. Although a bit different then their studio work, they are a great live band. They seemed to even have more energy than Foals, as lead singer Matthew Shultz danced around the stage with energy that never died. The band are great entertainers as well as performers, and they know how to get the crowd going. Guitarist Nick Bockrath continued pulling crowd surfers onto the stage throughout the night, who were thrilled to be up there when they got on and danced and rocked out to their favorite band.
The massive crowd jumped up and down in one movement with Cage, and there was even a moshpit or two. The young people of Rochester were willing to get down and have some fun, and that's what matters at a rock show.

A-

Set list from Cage the Elephant Saturday, March 26, 2016
1) Cry Baby
2) In one Ear
3) Spiderhead
4) Take it or leave it
5) Aberdeen
6) ToO late to Say Goodbye
7) Cold Cold Cold
8) Trouble
9) Ain't no rest for the wicked
10) Mess Around
11) Punchin' Bag
12) Telescope
13) Back Against the Wall
14) It's just Forever
15) Come a little Closer
Encore:
16) Cigarette Daydreams
17) Shake me Down
18) Teeth

All photo Credit Rachel F Van Slyke
Bear Hands at Main Street Armory in Rochester, NY