Photo by Neil Krug
Following a select handful of acoustic Live and Unpeeled tour dates from earlier this year, Cage the Elephant has just announced they will be spotlighting the rare performances in a new live album. The album, aptly titled Unpeeled, is slated for release later this summer on RCA Records.
Unpeeled will feature stripped down live versions (some with a string quartet and choir accompaniment) from shows in cities including Los Angeles, Washington DC, Knoxville and Nashville. Eighteen tracks spanning Cage the Elephant’s past four albums will be featured on the LP, as will three covers which, from a quick glance at their “Live and Unpeeled” setlists, will likely be Golden Brown’s “The Stranglers,” Wreckless Eric’s “(I’d Go The) Whole Wide World and Daft Punk’s “Instant Crush.”
“We connected with the songs in a way we hadn’t before,” said guitarist Brad Shultz, regarding the inspiration behind the album. “It was really all about the balance of the intimacy and the delicacy of how we approach playing these songs live acoustically and with strings as we hadn’t done before. We were very transparent, and we found the more honest you can be with yourself, the more honest you can be with everyone else.”
Get a taste of Cage the Elephant’s Unpeeled with the below rendition of “Too Late to Say Goodbye” — complete with string section — from the band’s appearance last night on Late Night with Seth Meyers and catch the group performing live on one of their many festival stops this summer.
Cage the Elephant 2017 Tour Dates
June 10 – Manchester, TN – Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival
June 23 – Beuningen, Netherlands – Down The Rabbit Hole
June 24 – Paris, France – Solidays
June 27 – Nottingham, UK – Rock City
June 28 – Cardiff, UK – Tramshed
June 30 – St. Gallen, Switzerland – Openair St. Gallen
July 1 – Arras, France – Main Square Festival
July 2 – Rotselaar, Belgium – Rock Werchter
July 4 – Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic – Rock For People
July 6 – Bilbao, Spain – Bilbao BBK Live
July 7 – Madrid, Spain – Mad Cool Festival
July 8 – Lisbon, Portugal – Nos Alive
July 14 – Louisville, KY – Forecastle Festival
July 23 – San Marcos, TX – Float Fest 2017
July 28 – Oro-Medonte, ON, Canada – Wayhome Music & Arts Festival
Aug. 3 – Chicago, IL – Lollapalooza
Aug. 5 – Montreal, QC, Canada – Osheaga Music & Arts
Sept. 9 – St Louis, MO – Loufest
Sept. 23 – Las Vegas, NV – Life Is Beautiful Festival
Sept. 30 – Mobile, AL – Ten Sixty Five Street Party
Nov. 18 – Mexico City, Mexico – Corona Capital