Bowling Green’s music was on showcase in Nashville last night when hometown heroes Cage the Elephant and local rockers Schools played the Marathon Music Works.

This was the first time Cage had ever played Marathon, which was opened in 2011. The band members took advantage of the new venue by putting on their full lights show and playing for over an hour.

The Bowling Green music scene was well represented backstage. Members of local bands like Morning Teleportation, Canago and Buffalo Rodeo littered the V.I.P. room behind the stage, drinking moonshine and playing free arcade games.

Nathaniel Davis of Buffalo Rodeo didn’t even hear about the show until the night before when Cage’s lead singer Matt Shultz came over to watch his band practice and offered them free tickets.

“It’s good to know people,” Davis said.

Also backstage were friends and family of the bands, including producer Jay Joyce, who has produced records by Cage, Sleeper Agent and most recently Schools.

Jeremi Simon, lead singer of Schools, said that the band was excited to be getting such incredible opportunities.

“We were a little nervous at first, because it was one of the bigger shows that we’ve gotten to play,” Simon said.

Simon said that he hopes this will expand the band’s audience and help them gain more exposure before they release the record they recorded with Joyce.

“I think that it’s really hard to say who’s the next band coming from Bowling Green, because there are so many good bands there,” he said.

Shultz echoed Simon’s thoughts about the level of musical talent in Bowling Green. He said this is why the Cage members continue to invite local bands to open for them.

“It’s not just Bowling Green bands, it’s bands that we feel like are doing things that are great, fresh and new,” Shultz said. “And it just so happens that a lot of bands in Bowling Green are doing those things.

“I don’t feel like we have this bias toward Bowling Green. I mean it our home town, but we just happen to be from a place where a lot of really cool stuff is happening right now.”

Shultz said that the Nashville show went great in his mind and that he felt very natural on stage.

He said the band members will return to Bowling Green to write their third album next month, and that they would again be headlining the Starry Nights Music Festival next semester.

“We’ll see how it goes,” Shultz said. “I’m really stoked about everything that’s happening right now.”