Cage The Elephant returned to Bowling Green by playing a show at the Capitol Arts Center on the square downtown Monday night. The band sold out their first venue since their return from a tour in Europe. Chris Wilson/Herald

Matt Shultz jumped, shook, collapsed and catapulted himself across the Capitol Arts Center stage Monday night.

Shultz is the lead vocalist of Cage the Elephant, a band made up of five Bowling Green natives.

Cage the Elephant played an hour-long homecoming set for a sold out crowd.

“All the hometown support feels amazing,” Shultz said as he sprinted around the building to greet fans after the concert. “All of it has been unreal.”

The concert started at 7:30 p.m. when Pennsylvania native band, The Shackeltons, gave a brief performance that included throwing broken tree branches at audience members.

“That’s what we all came here for,” lead vocalist Mark Redding told the crowd. “We want tree branches thrown at us in the name of music.”

The second band of the night, Bowling Green group Morning Teleportation, took the stage at 8:30 p.m. and encouraged the crowd to dance in the aisles.

That crowd included Louisville senior Michel Stephens.

“There’s no other way to say it,” he said. “Morning Teleportation’s music is like love incarnate. It’s really transformative.”

When Cage the Elephant walked on stage at 9:45 p.m. the theater echoed with.

“They’re pure energy,” Stephens said of Cage the Elephant. “It gets everyone in the room excited.”

The crowd kept in pace with the band as they rolled through songs from their first record, Cage the Elephant, including singles “Back Against the Wall” and “Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked.”

Shultz said the band also unveiled new material to be released on Cage the Elephant’s new album set for May 2010.

“Our biggest goal for next year and the rest of our years as a band is to continue getting records out,” Shultz said in between pictures and signings with concert-goers.

The concert encore included Cage’s next single, “In One Ear,” off the debut album. Guitarist Brad Shultz approached the microphone to address the audience’s pleas for more music.

“You know we couldn’t leave our hometown like that,” Brad Shultz said.

Matt Shultz climbed atop a tower of amplifiers while screeching down at the crowd during the encore.

He said Cage the Elephant will perform in Nashville on Wednesday night before having four days off for Thanksgiving. They will continue to tour North America until Dec. 19, from which point they have a two-month vacation.

“We’re thankful for everything,” Matt Shultz said. “Toothpaste, too – without toothpaste my teeth would have fallen out.”