See Cage the Elephant Perform ‘Rubber Ball’ With Strings, Choir

Cage the Elephant perform their acoustic ballad “Rubber Ball” in a live performance video promoting their upcoming concert LP, Unpeeled. Frontman Matthew Shultz croons softly over orchestral strings, twin acoustic guitars, faint vibraphone pulses and a grandiose choir – a revamped arrangement of the track, which originally appeared on 2011’s Thank You, Happy Birthday.

The alt-rock band captured this performance during a hometown show at Nashville’s iconic venue the Ryman Auditorium. “It was always a dream of ours to perform at this hometown venue, and we felt something spiritual from the moment we stepped on stage,” Shultz said in a statement. “The song ‘Rubber Ball’ [bassist Daniel Tichenor] and I wrote in our first band house. It’s about excess in all aspects. It’s about trying to gain control and not being able to but having love in your heart.”

Unpeeled, out July 28th via RCA Records, compiles recordings from various stripped-down shows on the band’s recent “Live & Unpeeled” U.S. tour – including concerts in L.A., Washington, D.C., and Knoxville, Tennessee. The album features 21 tracks: 18 reworked versions from their previous four LPs and three covers (the Stranglers’ “Golden Brown,” “Daft Punk’s “Instant Crush” and Wreckless Eric’s “Whole Wide World”).

The live set follows the band’s 2015 studio LP, the Dan Auberbach–produced Tell Me I’m Pretty. Cage the Elephant have numerous U.S. festival dates booked for this summer and fall, including spots at Forecastle, Lollapalooza, Foo Fighters’ Cal Jam and the inaugural Mempho Music Festival.