Cage the Elephant returned Thursday (Sept. 10) with the dreamy new song “Dying in Reverse,” and they’re ready to bring it to a football stadium or (virtual) soccer field near you.
The rock band is set to headline the halftime show at the international NFL game in Munich between the Lions and Patriots on Nov. 15, where they’ll perform their latest release, and the new song is also included on the EA Sports FC 27 soundtrack, out Sept. 25. Cage frontman Matthew Schultz told Billboard why “Dying” — which premiered Thursday on Zane Lowe’s Apple Music show alongside a visualizer directed by Schultz himself — works so well in a sports context ahead of both of these big looks for the Kentucky-founded band.
“When writing ‘Dying in Reverse,’ sonically we really wanted to capture this feeling of being suspended in time,” Schultz tells Billboard via email. “Almost as if life is being seen in between breaths. There are moments that suddenly take on tremendous importance, both individually and communally, and I think sports can create that same feeling. Whether you’re an athlete on the field or a fan in the stands, there are moments you wish you could relive, and in some ways you do. They become forever etched in time. I think the song pairs so naturally with sports because it’s reaching for that same feeling of a shared experience becoming something larger.”
“Dying in Reverse” also marks where the band currently stands, after signing with Big Loud Rock and releasing “Beaches in Tennessee” back in July — which promptly became Cage’s seventh No. 1 on Billboard‘s Rock & Alternative Airplay chart.
“I think the song is a good representation of the band’s perspective as a whole — to not look so much at the past and, at the same time, not too far into the future,” Schultz says of “Dying in Reverse.” “I think we’d all very much like to be in the present as much as possible, stay true to our convictions and to remain sincere in all of our creative pursuits.”
Another big look for the band came last year when Cage opened for Oasis on the North American leg of the British band’s long-awaited Live ’25 reunion tour. While Schultz hasn’t yet seen the Don’t Look Back in Anger film that documents that tour (“I’m hoping to soon”), he says the experience “undoubtedly” had a huge impact on the band.
“It couldn’t have come at a better time and has turned into one of the biggest blessings of our entire career,” he says. “There was something about being around that scale of energy every night, and seeing people connect with a band and a body of work in that way, that was incredibly inspiring. I think it reminded all of us why we wanted to do this in the first place and gave us a lot of energy going into what comes next.”
After the Munich halftime show, Cage will make themselves at home in Europe in 2027, kicking off tour dates Feb. 8 in Berlin and wrapping March 1 in London.
