CAKE

Posted on 2007/07/13 23:31:48 (July 2007).

[Thursday 12th July]
Tonight Chie and I went to see CAKE play at the O2 (basically the Millenium Dome). We'd seen posters a few months back, and bought tickets, and then had pretty much forgotten all about it until some time this week.

This was my second time to see them play. I'd still definitely rank them among my favourite bands, and still listen to them on a regular basis - I even bought their obscure B-Sides and Rarities CD recently... and yet, somehow I found the whole thing a bit of a disappointment tonight. Maybe I just wasn't in the right mood, maybe the venue wasn't right, maybe I'm too old to enjoy this kind of live music any more. There was certainly far too much waiting around, and whilst I was prepared to persevere, Chie was clearly getting fed up with it - she brought a book along to read to fill in the gaps. The tickets said the show started at 7, so eager to get a good place we turned up not long after 6... but then we queued outside for ages, only to eventually be let in and stand in front of an empty stage for ages.

When the support act finally came on, things did begin to look up. It was just a guy by himself, called Ruarri Joseph. I instantly liked him - which is rare for me with any kind of music. There was something just honest and endearing about his music. I hope he has a future ahead of him.

There was then another very long wait before Cake finally came on, which I think was some time after 9 - we'd basically been hanging around almost three hours by this point. So yea, they were great, they played a lot of my favourite songs (well, I like pretty much all of their songs, so that is more or less irrelevant!), but they basically only played for an hour, then went off and came back with three encores. So in total it was definitely lass than an hour and a half.

Again, I feel I need to punctuate any criticisms with re-iterating how much I like Cake, but the other issue that I find makes it a bit difficult to really enjoy watching them is John McCrea's general demeanour. He gives off this vibe of really not wanting to be there, and somehow despising the audience for the fact that they're watching him and expecting him to perform. Last time I saw them play he walked off stage after the first song - I think because the audience were too loud and drowning out Vincent Di Fiore's trumpet solos . He did eventually come back on and do the rest of the gig, but it left me with the impression that I was causing him a huge imposition by paying him 15 or 20 quid to watch him perform. Whilst tonight he didn't storm off or anything, I just got this constant feeling from him that he was on the verge of being really pissed off with us all. It was as though he just wanted to get it all over and done with as quick as possible and then go home.

It's a shame really, because at times, when his mood is in a better state (and it seemed to vary on a song by song basis) he is capable of being quite a showman, he sounds absolutely fantastic live, and is generally very entertaining... but at other times there's this undertone there that certainly made me feel sort of uncomfortable, and I had a feeling I wasn't the only person that picked up on it.

Maybe I was just reading too much into it. So I guess if I try and ignore all of that, I did have a great time, and it was fabulous to see them play again.

For anyone interested in that sort of thing, the songs the played included (I might have missed a couple):

Excuse Me, I think I've Got a Heart Ache
Short Skirt/Long Jacket
Comfort Eagle
Love You Madly
Frank Sinatra
The Distance
Stickshifts and Safetybelts
Comanche
Rock 'n' Roll Lifestyle
Wheels
Carbon Monoxide
Mexico
Never There
Guitar
Sheep Go To Heaven

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