CAKE and Ben Folds in Boston on Monday
As someone who has been a big fan of CAKE for 2+ decades, I was ecstatic to see that they were coming to Boston in August for a concert, as it had been almost seven years since I last saw them perform live. They partnered with Ben Folds to do a two week tour, and Boston happened to be the City where they kicked off the mini-tour. I snagged fourth row seats as soon as they went on sale and had been anticipating this show since it was announced in March!
The last time I saw CAKE, they were touring to support their then new album, Showroom of Compassion, and I was fortunate enough to see them three times over a six month period when they played shows in and around the Boston area. (The best concert during that tour was up in Lowell, where I was in the front row and only about ten feet away from the band. They played all my favorite songs, and it couldn’t have been better.)
A lot has changed in seven years, and while I still enjoyed seeing them in August at Blue Hills Bank Pavilion, I noticed that they weren’t quite the same CAKE. In particular, I noticed that the music seemed a bit slower than in prior concerts, and that the band didn’t seem as cohesive. I’m wondering if it had been a while before they last played a show together, as they seems a touch rusty. I’m curious if they improved during their two week mini-tour and were jamming by their last show.
Their song selection was good, playing lots of non-radio hits, though I was disappointed to not hear my favorite song “Wheels.” (But, that isn’t surprising, as that is not a popular song in the CAKE repertoire.) I loved our fourth row seats, which gave us an excellent view of the band.
[As I can’t post video in Medium (double boo), you can check out my Instagram account @julieschultz79 if you would like to see what I posted that evening.]
Ben Folds was good, but I’m not as big of a Ben Folds fan as I am of CAKE, and I was happy to see that he played first and CAKE went on as the second act for the evening. I do wish Ben Folds played at least one song from his album Whatever and Ever Amen, which I love.
Overall, it was good show and I would go back to see CAKE again because I love them that much. I’m hopeful they are working on a new studio album, which means a tour, and (hopefully) means a more rehearsed and solid CAKE.
(Monday, August 13, 2018 / @julieschultz79 / #mycrazylifeblog)
