cake

February 8, 2006 &bull music

Last week Heidi and I saw Cake and Tegan and Sara downtown at the House of Blues. Aside from the Neil Diamond experience we had in December, it was the first “real” show I’d been to in a while. Before the bass started to rumble my anticipation went in this order:

1. Tegan and Sara
2. Cake
3. Possible lesbian make-out sessions*

However, I was a bit surprised because things turned out like this:

1. Cake
2. Gogol Bordello
3. Tegan and Sara

First off, I was super-impressed with how good Cake sounded. I guess I’ve always known John McCrea is a brilliant songwriter, but I never realized how friggin’ good his band is live. Their guitar player (Xan McCurdy) is so good it makes you want to rip your hair out by the fistful and cry. Plus, when that trumpet starts up, you can’t help but smile.

The big surprise, though, was how the opening act, Gogol Bordello, tore the place up. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a band come out and take control of a crowd so quickly. I mean, it felt like they owned the place 30 seconds into their set. Honestly, I’d never heard of these guys before and at first was shell-shocked. Mouth agape, I was standing there, wondering what the hell was happening. Heidi was a little freaked out, but after the initial shock of seeing people flying around on stage, she got into it. They were so entertaining and so f’n good it was unbelievable. I’ve listened to snippets of their latest album on iTunes and it doesn’t do the band justice. Granted, I haven’t heard the entire album, but I can’t imagine how it could hold a candle to their live performance.

Tegan and Sara played after Gogol Bordello. Don’t get me wrong — I thought they were very good. But, they (i.e., the entire band) seemed a bit nervous and disconnected. Perhaps it was from the ass-kicking I had just received, but I didn’t think they weren’t as engaging as I had hoped. Definitely enjoyable. Just not incredibile like the other two bands.

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* Put down the e-mail editor. Delete the nasty-gram. I’m only joking about the lesbian stuff. However, I will relay this quick story. While we were waiting for things to start (in between complaints about how our backs were killing us from standing so long — man, we’re pathetic) I leaned over to Heidi and told her we should have a contest. A small prize for whoever could be the first to ID two chicks making out. She agreed and the contest was on. Halfway through Tegan and Sara’s set I spied two lovers getting nasty a few feet in front of us. A quick sidelong glance confirmed my suspicion. A tie.

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