Going out to the Austin 360 is a beating. Even if there wasn't any traffic, and there always is, it still takes forever to get all the way out there. And we had this whackadoo Lyft driver who was way too into espousing his political beliefs. Also, the soccer stadium that they added to that space is right in the middle of the area where the amphitheater sits. It is wild that they just plopped it directly into the open space between the gates and the lawn seating.
Anyhoo, I was all pumped up about seeing Cake. I think they are awesome - funny, witty, cheeky, but also with fantastic bass lines and extremely catchy tunes. Ben Folds? All I could really remember about him was the kinda depressing "Brick" song from college that was all about abortion. But whatever, I'll check it out. In the end, he was freaking great - super talented pianist and hilarious guy. He sang a song, with an extended introduction, all about Levi Johnson, the baby daddy to Bristol Palin who was thrust into the limelight whenever Sarah Palin suddenly was named McCain's running mate in 2008.
Then Cake came out, opening with "Arco Arena," which is a cool, intricate, groovy instrumental. So far, so good, although my brain really wanted them to go straight into the thudding rock of "Comfort Eagle." Instead, they proceeded to play about 10 songs, and almost skipped everything that I would consider a hit. It felt like they thought they had a longer time to play, and then someone yelled from the side stage that they needed to stop. Or like they had a random song generator machine over on the drum riser that just spit out random tunes to play, without any thought about a cohesive setlist or what should come next. No "The Distance." No "Rock and Roll Lifestyle." No "Short Skirt, Long Jacket." No "Love You Madly." They didn't even go with their cover of "I Will Survive," opting for a long version of "War Pigs" instead. The only hit they played was "Never There." Now, I'm not one who only goes to a show for the hits, it is fun to hear some deep cuts of a band you have listened to for a long time, but I definitely left this show feeling like I missed out.
Also! They spent like 10 minutes of their short show giving away a peach tree! Which is just as weird as it sounds. They brought out a mystery tree in like a 5 gallon tub, asked the crowd to guess what it was, and then the first person who yelled out "PEACH" got to walk up on stage and claim the tree. "Hey, Jessica! It's your tree now!" And then they made her swear to care for it and love it and send them photos and stuff. So weird. And then poor Jessica had to take the dumb thing with her back into the pit, to dance with (and probably instagram the shit out of) before trying to shove it into the back of a Prius Uber to get back to campus.
Which is a bummer, because they still sound great - good groove, the horn guy still adds a fun wrinkle to the tunes - it all still works. But definitely left the show feeling disappointed.
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