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Cake - Roseland Ballroom 11/15/01

"This sure isn’t cuddling music." I thought this quote from Cake fan Kat was the perfect way to start off my review. Kat, of course Cake isn’t cuddling music, it’s party music. Only one problem… there sure wasn’t enough of a party atmosphere at Roseland on November 15th. I’ve seen Cake before, 2 years ago at Long Island’s Vanderbilt and there’s no comparison between the shows. I thought the band came out lethargic at Roseland. Frontman John McCrea’s vocals were a little more off than normal. At some points McCrea’s vocals were actually trailing the band and the crowd (i.e. "The Distance"). If not for the performances of Trumpet player Vincent di Fiore and Guitarist Xan McCurdy, Cake would have been lost. Di Fiore and McCurdy saved the show with their great playing. One of the main reasons why I like Cake is for di Fiore’s trumpet and he did not disappoint at Roseland.

Another complaint I have is the length of the set list. Cake went on stage at 8:50 PM and were finished by 10:25 PM. By my watch that’s less than 2 hours and not acceptable for a band with 4 albums. At The Vanderbilt they played for 2 solid hours, hilighting songs from their hit disc, "Fashion Nugget." At Roseland, the band barely touched "Nugget" opting for tracks from their first disc, the non-commercial "Motorcade of Generosity." Come on guys, play the songs that gave you a following. Oh yeah, by the way, McCrea stop playing with the crowd during every song… maybe then you could fit in some more songs.

I hope that Cake gets back into the swing of things in a hurry. It’s funny that McCrea, a former shirt designer, has gone back to selling tees. Maybe he’s planning his future?