Cage the Elephant performs at Merriweather Post Pavilion on Aug. 22, 2019. (Photo by Rashad Polk)

The last time Cage the Elephant played the DC area was last fall at the DC Entertainment and Sports Arena. This time around, the six-piece band from Kentucky played Merriweather Post Pavilion at the DC stop of their co-headlining The Night Running Tour with Beck recently.

From the onset on Aug. 22, it was clear that Cage the Elephant came to bring the fire — not only did the band open up the set with the blistering “Broken Boy” off of their new album Social Cues, but flames ignited from behind the amps that lined the stage.

Visually, the band proved to be just as impressive as they were musically, especially frontman Matt Shultz. Matt emphatically took center stage as well as stage-left and stage-right, strutting, shimmying, and just plain spazzing out with the command of a seasoned vaudeville performer.

After performing “Ready to Let Go,” Matt was put into the unenviable position of having to announce that the show was being threatened by approaching severe weather. As the storm continued to advance the band pushed on with drummer Jared Champion counting off the intro into the title track off of Social Cues.

Check out Social Cues by Cage the Elephant on Spotify:

Sadly, Mother Nature was persistent. The skies opened up and the concert drew to a close as fans cleared the lawn to return to their vehicles, navigating as best they could through the lightning and wind-driven rain.

But Cage the Elephant would have none of that. The band waited out the storm, as did a vast majority of the die-hard fans in attendance. Despite the nearly 40 minute rain delay, Cage returned to the stage to finish the second half of their set. Perhaps the delay was beneficial, as the entire band closed out with incomparable energy only matched by their performance from earlier in the evening.

Check out more photos of Cage the Elephant at Merriweather Post Pavilion on Aug. 22, 2019. All photos copyright and courtesy of Rashad Polk.