In what was a rare treat for the South Bay, Cake played at the Avalon nightclub in Santa Clara on Monday to an enthusiastic sold-out crowd, two full hours broken up into two sets and a three-song encore afterwards.. The intimate setting and top notch sound system made the evening that much better.
A quick listen to their new album, Showroom of Compassion, made it clear that after seven years, they still know how to make a great record without departing from their distinct sound. But watching them in concert made it even more clear—listening to songs written in 2011, 1999, or 1994, all back to back, they sound like they could have all been from the same album.
Cake carved out a cool, fun and weird sound unlike any other band, and haven’t strayed from it. Even their cover songs—Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs,” their hit version of “I Will Survive” and “Perhaps,”—have been altered enough that they are simply Cake songs.
During the first set, McCrea broke the audience into two groups for a two part sing-a-long. He dubbed half of the audience the “escapists,” who deal with the stress of the modern world by smoking pot and playing video games. The other side he called the “angry masses,” meaning they consumed news and video clips and got themselves worked up into a stressful frenzy. The bit was, like their music, multi-layered and nestled comfortably between sarcasm and authenticity.
Mid-way through the second set, John McCrea honored Santa Clara with what is a tradition at Cake shows: He gave away a tree to a lucky member of the audience. The South Bay resident took home a brand new peach tree and had to promise to send the band pictures of the tree as it grew. McCrea added that the tree would come in handy after society inevitably collapsed. The audience wasn’t sure whether to laugh, an effect McCrea’s lyrics have been known to have on listeners, as well.
At the end of the night, Cake played a three song encore including, “Short Skirt and a long Jacket,” “Perhaps” and “Going the Distance” also making it clear that back in their heyday, they wrote some great singles, songs that captured the essence of the ’90s, but still managed to live on beyond their years.
