Cake

An Evening with Cake
1/14/2011
Event Rating: ★★★½☆
Venue: Sunset Cove (Boca Raton, FL)
Presented by: AEG Live

Thick bass lines, funky in your face guitars strums, calculated jazzy drums. Quirky little instruments you haven’t seen since you were a kid. These things are what make up the classic Cake sound, not to mention the gestural front man John McCrea, his cool voice, fun lyrics and pleasurable delivery.

Cake’s members (John McCrea, Vince DiFore, Xan McCurdy, Gabe Nelson, Paulo Baldi) are five musicians who each played their instruments with complete dedication and great talent. Each member and his individualized role seemed entertainingly self sufficient, but really, each one was integral to the entire sound of the band.

As for crowd interaction, no one was left out. McCrea made it a point to have as much crowd participation as possible from all, even dividing the audience in to two groups that then competed as background singers.

The band even gave away a free tree. And by free they meant a few strings were attached. The fortunate fan had to guess what kind of tree it was and then promise to send Cake subsequent photos chronicling the tree’s progress.

Cake contributed to the chill vibe by performing without a playlist. They simply felt the crowd and gave fans the opportunity to request songs. “Give ’em what they want”. What else can you ask for?

The name said it all. A true “evening with Cake,” just hanging out and having a good time.

Reviewed by: Ruben Gihoul

Tags: Alternative Rock, An Evening with Cake, bass, Boca Raton, Cake, drums, Funk Rock, Gabe Nelson, guitar, John McCrea, Paulo Baldi, ROCK, Sunset Cove, Vince DiFore, Xan McCurdy