Cloud Cult on stage at the El Rey. (Kelsey Rose)

It shouldn’t be surprising, considering the band’s repertoire of songs with titles like “Good Friend,” “Love You All,” and “What It Feels Like To Be Alive.”

Listening to songs like this by yourself, though, still can’t prepare you for the awesome—in the literal sense of the word—experience of hearing them live.

The multi-membered band performs an earnest and cathartic live show where the audience breathes community and appreciation. What results is nothing short of spiritual.

Before delving into the details of how their show on May 11 at the El Rey Theatre transpired, however, first we must discuss their opener: JBM.

JBM are the initials of Jesse Marchant, the singer songwriter who has been on tour with Cloud Cult for the past couple months. His introspective and solo performance provides a strong contrast to the main act.

JBM started the show when he walked on stage with nothing more than his electric guitar. He sang eyes closed with a voice whose haunting power immediately provoked a desire to reflect on life and its incessant movement.

Initially, he created an on-stage experience of his own world where the audience served as nothing more than spectators. Then, after his third song, he addressed the audience by mentioning how he loves performing from L.A. having lived here for a significant period of time.

These direct comments to the audience provoked a shift in his act. He still maintained the personal and emotional feelings of his first few songs, but now he had allowed the audience to enter his world. 

Early in his set, JBM switched to an acoustic guitar and started singing more powerful and stimulating songs, which successfully elicited a stronger audience response. Unfortunately, this audience response was limited to the core members close to the stage.

When JBM sang at a quieter level, or when he transitioned between songs, the conversations of people in the back audibly interrupted his act. So audible, in fact, that JBM himself made a joking remark about the good response from “you guys up here,” in reference to the concertgoers who were actually paying attention.

All this really means is those people missed out on a great opening performance by ignoring the artist on stage. He had a short set, but for the last song he brought out a few members of Cloud Cult to join him on stage. Their muted and slow horns provided a nice addition to JBM’s personal folk sound. At the end of his set he made a shout out of gratitude and appreciation to Cloud Cult, which perfectly set up the experience they would provide minutes later. 

Cloud Cult transitioned into their own set with a dark and quiet opening. Barely audible instrumentation flowed through the theater at first, quieting down the audience and grabbing everyone’s attention.

As soon as the backdrop lit up with a starry visualization, a buzz of anticipation emanated from the audience. The first song picked up vigor and sound and started inspiring audience shouts of “I love you” and “Thank you,” all before their show really started getting underway.

At this point, the painter, Scott West, was approaching the canvas with verve and invigoration. The canvas itself could spin to accommodate impassioned moments from Scott.

After finishing up a rendition "Chain Reaction," Craig Minowa, the lead singer, spoke to the audience.

ALSO READ: Cloud Cult's Craig Minowa Shares The Secrets To The Band's Longevity

Filled with bursting energy and unbridled earnestness, he asked the audience if we were ready to “bare our souls.” The loud screaming response from the audience meant an undeniable yes.

The band then played “Meet Me,” and then built up a frantic energy for “Sleepwalker.” This provoked more and more shouts of gratitude from the audience. 

After playing “Sleepwalker,” Craig paused the music to talk to the audience. He gave a funny anecdote of past performance in a space adjacent to a hip-hop concert, turning the quiet between songs a glimpse into the intense show from the other side of the wall.

He transitioned into a mention of how he traveled with his two kids during the East Coast portion of the tour, but now they’re home (presumably with their mother, Connie, who wasn’t present for this show).

The mention of his kids led straight into a moving rendition of “You Were Born.” Craig imbued it with both sadness from the loss of his first child back in 2000 as well as a sense of hope and love for his two current children. 

The band continued for a few more songs uninterrupted, including “Water,” “Stories,” “1x1x1,” and “Chemicals,” the latter garnering a strong audience sing along. Craig spoke to the audience again after wrapping up the song, this time to tell the story of the inspiration behind “Complicated Creation,” a song off their latest album.

He described being in the Wisconsin wilderness and befriending coyotes during the night. This prompted a man in the audience to whoop “Yeah Midwest!” (which I greatly appreciated as a fellow displaced Midwesterner). Craig’s decision to say how they “befriended” the animals epitomizes the band’s environmentally concerned and all-around loving and caring persona. Nothing but a powerful and exuberant version of “Complicated Creation” could follow up his anecdote, and the band didn’t disappoint.  

Following was “Thermodynamics” and “Good Friend.” During a brief pause, Craig proceeded to melt the heart of each person in the audience by proclaiming how “Spending 5-7 hours a day driving with a one and three year old is hard, but being without them every day is even harder.” He instilled positive vibes into the audience that the band channeled next to perform “You’re the Only Thing.” 

At this point, Scott has nearly finished his painting. What started out as scattered brush strokes of strong colors has evolved into the portrait of a woman with a strong upward gaze and half of her face extending out in lines to the edge of the canvas. She seemed to represent the constant sense of confronting a force greater than her that coursed through every one of Cloud Cult’s songs. 

A climactic moment occurred next to start off “Blessings.” Everyone on stage moved from his or her instrument and surrounded one of two drums. Drumsticks in hand, the whole ban began beating in unison on the drums.

The reverberation filled the theater and sent an electric charge through the audience. Their communal drumming created a mesmerizing experience. The rest of “Blessings” continued to ride the power the band created with that opening.

They took the tone down for “The Calling,” but finished off the concert with a cosmic blast consisting of “Energy” and “Fire/Clouds.” All the while, the audience said polite but heartfelt proclamations of “Thank you,” “I love you,” and other variations continued without cessation. The band returned the thank yous and left the stage.

The audience took on the responsibility to call for an encore, which Cloud Cult granted in one of the quickest returns to stage I’ve ever experienced. The encore song choices seemed a bit poorly chosen considering the quality of the rest of the show. The bizarre experience of earing them sing “Show Starts Now” at the very end of the concert overshadowed any emotional release the song could have provided at another time during the show.

For the very last song, they performed “You’ll Be Bright,” all the way extending their own rays of positivity, sincerity, and love. The show officially ended when the band formed a line to take a bow. Grinning and linked up, Cloud Cult made their last mark on stage at the El Rey at the end of an invigorating and spiritual concert.

Read more of NT's show reviews here.

Reach Staff Reporter Annie Lloyd here. Follow her on Twitter here.