05.15.2011 - CAKE @ The Murat Egyptian Room
May 23, 2011
The Murat Egyptian Room
Indianapolis, IN
CAKE brought their eclectic brand of alt-rock to Indianapolis on May 15th, and Indy brought their A-Game to this show. The mix of people in the sold-out Murat Egyptian Room ranged in age from the elementary crowd to aging rockers still sporting their CAKE tour t-shirts from the 90’s, and everyone in between. We haven’t heard a ton from CAKE since their radio hit “Short Skirt/Long Jacket” off of their 2001 album Comfort Eagle. The band released another album, Pressure Chief, in 2004, but this album failed to garner the mainstream support that the previous album enjoyed.
So here we are in 2011, with a new CAKE album, Showroom of Compassion. What a turnaround for CAKE – not only is this their first studio album to be independently released, but also their first album to debut on the Billboard 200 for a week at number one. The first single from the album, “Sick of You”, has been getting quite a bit of radio airplay since the album’s January release. Pick this one up if you are looking for some quality new music to check out.
As I settled into the photo pit at the front of the stage, something interesting caught my eye. Sitting on a stool right next to the lead mic, as if it were sitting on its very own throne, was a strange looking instrument of sorts. As anyone who has heard any of CAKE’s songs over the years knows the distinct sound that this instrument (which, I later learned is called a vibraslap) makes, and knows that it is such a staple in their music. And not to disappoint – lead singer John McCrea added a generous dose of vibraslap into nearly every (if not every) song performed on that stage. Back to the show – in true, unique CAKE style – the band opened for themselves, playing two “sets” with an intermission in between. CAKE played a great mix of their old and new songs pre-intermission, including “Sheep Go to Heaven”, “Got To Move”, and “Mustache Man”. The crowd was singing along to every song – everyone had a great time with this band.
After a short intermission, CAKE finally answered the question on everyone’s mind – why the hell is there a tree onstage? Turns out, CAKE’s been giving away a tree at each of their shows – to one person who quietly raises their hand and has the answer to the question “What kind of tree is this?” This was a painfully slow process in Indy…probably a good 15-20 minutes was spent on duplicate or just completely ridiculous guesses. Way to go, Indy… Finally a winner was selected, and she was made to promise she would plant the tree somewhere that she could go back year after year and take a picture of herself next to the tree and update the band on its progress. A cool idea – and definitely a unique one in the music industry. This second half of the show brought such great songs as “Federal Funding”, “Never There”, and, during a short encore, “Short Skirt/Long Jacket”. Defintely the crowd-pleaser of the evening.
This was definitely a rockin’ show with a band that’s been what seems like such force of nature in the music scene for such a long time, even if most of their music never saw the light of any Billboard lists. Judging by all the smiling faces spotted on our way out of The Murat that night, this show was a crowd pleaser. And I thank CAKE for making this Sunday evening an early (7:30) start, and for coming out close to on-time – I’m slowly getting to old for this whole “let’s start the show at 9:00, invite two opening acts, then show up late and drag out the set-up time between bands” kind of stuff.
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