Well, I hate to be a party pooper in a way, but it’s not like I didn’t know it was coming. I saw my Cake concert tonight – and as great as it was to get to see the band, it was also rather disappointing to my ears. No where in the entire ‘Edmonton Event Centre‘ was there one good spot to be found for listening. At least nothing that I found while I meandered myself around everywhere. The best mix seemed to come from the small seating area that was behind the stage …and that was only good because you primarily heard the groups monitor mixes and not the front of house system. The vocals, the bass and the drums were all washy and didn’t cut like they should. But it’s not the PA though – as I’m sure those guys know how to make things sound nice, but rather it was the Centre itself. Not only did it have obtrusive support columns, but the ceiling was open metal – kinda like the gymnasiums you find in school. Ever remember hearing a band in a High School gym? That’s the sound.
But it was nice to see them play at least. John gave me a lift, Pat was there, Dave and Amber, Chris (an old Mukafa manager), some girl named Robin won a Cedar tree (I think it was of the ’shingle’ family) …and of course a healthy mix of young and old ‘geeks’ alike. At least that’s what John figured the crowd to be. I mean, who else would be able to sing all the words to Cake songs and not be a geek?
I don’t know the words …not many of them that is. Heck, I don’t even know the names of the guys in the band!? I do know that I like their songs. I do know that I like listening to them via CD/mp3’s and my Grado headphones. And I do know that they played ‘Mexico’ as on of their encores – only because one of the bands that I played with did a cover of that song for many years.
So yeah, the songs were great, the show was fine – and the sound – well…. it was sound, that’s for sure.
Cake guy and Cake people
