Accompanying our American house mate to see the Californian band ‘Cake’ in Manchester last night proved to be a fantastic decision. They were one of the best and most entertaining bands I’ve seen for a very long time. They also have some of the best guitar riffs and basslines I’ve heard for a very long time. If the gig in London on the 4th wasn’t sold out I’d be tempted to travel down to London and see them again. They were that good.
Their live sound is fantastic, even in the relatively small Manchester Academy. The sound of their most recent album didn’t strike me as that good, generally because I’m not a big fan of the synthesized drum sound, but that was all taken care of by Pete McNeal’s tight time keeping in a live situation.
Xan McCurdy’s guitar playing was excellent, repeatedly hammering out some of the best guitar riffs around today.
I was particularly suprised by the way the acoustic guitar sound that features on many of their songs was faithfully recreated by using a tiny miced up 10-watt Fender practice amp. Brilliant.
The sound guys in the venue made a few monster fuck ups, but the band shrugged this off and continued to put on one of the best shows I’ve seen.
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