Cake Plays Surprise L.A. Club Gig In Support Of 'Comfort Eagle'

07/26/2001 6:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Neal Weiss

(7/26/01, 6 p.m. ET) -- Following-up surprise shows in San Francisco and its hometown Sacramento, California, Cake took over the Los Angeles club Spaceland Wednesday (July 25) for an unannounced gig in support of its new album, Comfort Eagle, which arrived in stores from Columbia Records the previous day (July 24).

The five-piece band performed a loose, spirited 21-song set that spanned its four albums and featured all of its most popular songs, "The Distance," "Never There," "I Will Survive," "Sheep Go To Heaven," and the new "Short Skirt/Long Jacket." Interestingly, Cake played as many songs--five--from its least-known first album, 1994's Motorcade Of Generosity, as it did songs from Comfort Eagle.

Frontman John McCrea exhibited his typical, testy persona, including repeatedly chastising the music industry portion of the audience and teasing crowd members for yelling out requests or not knowing the older material. However, nothing topped the moment he cut loose on one particularly loud fan near the front row who had been screaming for the singer/guitarist to take off his clothes. "I am not your strip monkey, motherf--ker," he fumed into the mic, staring down at the man.

Still, McCrea and his bandmates--horn/keyboard player Vince DiFiore, guitarist Xan McCurdy, bassist Gabriel Nelson, and drummer Pete McNeal, seemed pleased to be on stage in such an intimate setting. McCrea tells LAUNCH that it's the best environment for their music. "This band sounds a lot better in a very small room and it sounds better to us than it does in a large room. And we are really, really having a great time," he says. "We've played a couple really, really small shows and it's the way this music is built."

The complete set list was: "Guitar," "Comanche," "Is This Love?," "Frank Sinatra," "Sheep Go To Heaven," "Ruby Sees All," "Love You Madly," "Stickshifts And Safetybelts," "Arco Arena," "Comfort Eagle," "Never There," "Italian Leather Sofa," "Nugget," "I Will Survive," "Short Skirt/Long Jacket," "The Distance," "Meanwhile, Rick James...," "Jolene," "Daria," "Friend Is A Four Letter Word," and "Jesus Wrote A Blank Check."

Cake performs at a free radio-sponsored show Friday (July 27) in Atlanta.

-- Neal Weiss, Los Angeles

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