I remember seeing Cage the Elephant open for the Foo Fighters back in 2011 and wow, they've grown into an arena-headlining band.

In Vancouver June 26, Rogers Arena was a lower bowl of high energy on a night that featured the Kentucky-raised, London-groomed alt-rockers supported by Young the Giant, Bakar and also Willow Avalon.

Cage the Elephant's perfectly curated  offered no lull, no time to grab another drink, with hit after hit from the band's six-album, 16-year career. Impressive was Matt Shultz鈥檚 ability to belt out lyrics and thrash onstage, without so much as a pause for applause between songs. The feedback loop from stage to audience made for an electric feel as the band rolled through Cold, Cold Cold, Ain't No Rest for the Wicked, Shake Me Down, Come a Little Closer and other great songs.

In the end, I was stoked to see an "indie" band use so much pyro, lasers, raunchy guitar and funky bass beats. The encore highlight was the stadium-sized singalong, by cellphone light, to Cigarette Daydreams, which sure made for sweet dreams that night.

Young the Giant gave me summer vibes on a dreary June-uary day. Bandleader Sameer Gadhia said he was happy and surprised to be back in Vancouver so soon after performing at UBC with Milky Chance last August. It鈥檚 been 10 years of them touring, and they were about ready for a break, but couldn't decline an offer to hit the road with Cage the Elephant. Smart move.

Earlier in the evening, Bakar showed off his Canucks jersey and displayed some research for the Vancouver crowd. He not only repped our favourite hockey team but also greeted us with 鈥淗ow are you doing 604?鈥� He compared B.C.'s OG area code to the London postal code prefix NW3, title of a track where Bakar sings about a girl from 鈥淣orth West 3, I hope you move in with me.鈥� He ended his set with the viral song Hell N Back, popular for all the right reasons, and had the whole arena singing along.