It was soon time for the hour of nostalgia to end, though – or at least take a break – as lead singer John McCrea asked the crowd for permission to play a track from the new album, to which the crowd approved by showing no preference either way. Mustache Man, as the song he played is called, featured a less monotone McCrea than normal, but still fit into the set alongside the branding trumpet of multi-instrumentalist Vince DiFiore and crunch-time country funk of Xan McCurdy’s guitar.
After only one more new song, Bound Away, it was time to jump back into the pool of nostalgia (of course, there is only one album to choose from that wouldn’t be considered nostalgia, at this point), and McCrea all but demanded a sing-along on the “metaphorical, and not religious at all” Cake classic, Satan Is My Motor. It was around this time that the seemingly apathetic McCrea carefully took down his emotion-blocking curtain, folded it neatly and started to show some true signs of having fun. He began to wind down the first set with the help of Stickshifts and Safetybelts as well as Guitar. Another new song, Sick of You, closed the first set with an old-fashioned “left side vs. right side” sing-off, during which McCrea continuously chastised the right side of the crowd for not living up to their better half (note: despite the “encouragement”, the left side totally won).
A very short set break later, Cake jumped back on stage for another hour of equally nostalgic yet surely entertaining music. After the crowd favorite Opera Singer, Love You Madly (which, by the way, is possibly one of the coolest love songs ever written), and the fleetingly catchy Shadow Stabbing, came a moment that has apparently been met with mixed reactions at previous shows. A small tree, origin unknown, had been placed on stage and was blocking the view of many for most of the show. McCrea announced that one fan would get to take this tree home on the agreement that he or she would have to plant it, take care of it and send pictures of the tree to him every few years. It’s an interesting idea, and I was personally surprised that so many people have had adverse reactions to this – what could possibly be wrong with giving a tree away to a fan? Though perhaps people are just impatient for constant entertainment. But either way, I suppose we’ll see whether or not that tree survives – if all goes to plan, there will be photographic evidence.
After another couple of fan-favorite tunes, including Sheep Go To Heaven, Haze of Love, and Never There, the quintet left the stage for a couple of minutes – a very short tease before an encore. Short Skirt/Long Jacket and The Distance served as bookends to the cover of Black Sabbath’s War Pigs.
The thing about Cake, and therefore frontman John McCrea, is that you’re never sure when they’re being serious. His near constant monotone makes you think he’s always be sarcastic – and that is true whether he is singing or thanking the crowd for coming to the concert. But in the end, whether we were surprised or not, he delivered what we were looking for.
4 Responses
Damn I wish I caught them in ny. Sounds just like I pictured it.
I love CAKE
but
you don’t wanna see them in NY
McRea HATES NY. Saw them at Roseland a while back and he had nothing but contempt for the crowd. No encore, nothing.
McRea is a pompous douche.
I hope fwwank’s experience is not the typical one these days- it’s a bummer to hear that his experience was that bad. I love Cake too and have seen them in the Albany area a couple of times in the last few years and it seemed to me like they were ok w/the crowd. that said, when I saw them at moe.down in ’09, McCrae called out the folks tossing glow sticks after one almost hit him in the face, tho I can’t blame him for that [That whole glow stick thing is a little too middle school IMO]. It’d be great to see them in our area again.
Cake came to DC and they were great – but I wish I had never seen them live because of McCrea. That dude is about as cool as rivers cuomo from weezer…all he wants is for people to see how smart he is, so he acts like a douchebag on stage.
At the end of the day he is a green-diva that doesnt like to tour and hates record labels, frat boys, politicians, bankers, the internet and just about anything that comes with a title. He’d probably dodge saying he was a musician if he could.