An Evening with Cake @ Cental Park Summerstage 9/16/10

Someone needs to buy me one of those things John McCrea is rolling around with-I could probably learn how to play it.. unlike guitar, an instrument I've had since I was 7.  Anyway, what goes on ...Everybody welcome themselves  to The 34th installment of the Jay Porks never ending concert series and the 2nd of our "Three Nights of Weirdness" tour, tonight bringing us to see the band Cake at the Central Park Summerstage...

This show comes with a slight backstory. Back in March 2009 I had tickets to see Cake at Terminal 5.. Up the street before doors opened, a friend and we took it upon ourselves to participate in the recreational use of Marijuana. The police, safe to say were not too thrilled and put us in jail- hence us missing the show. From then on when I listened to any Cake song I would be reminded of sitting in a cell until roughly 1:30AM being made fun of by police who didn't believe that we "found the stuff on the floor". So since I heard they were coming back I got on it- and tonight is the night. And I will not go to jail tonight! I am finally going to see Cake...

After the riding the Ferry through a “tornado watch” with sideways rain, I made it to theentrance of Central Park on 5^th ave and 69^th st slightly before 8PM- 'Doors' opened at 7, and their were herds of people filing into the park. Ticketmaster had this billed as " An Evening with Cake", their were no openers listed.

Walked into this epic park that is Central Park(you know a park is huge when you each entrance is in a different neighborhood), and found my way to Rumsey Playfield, where there was a ginormous stage set up, with surrounding concessions. Have to mention I had a kick ass slice of Pizza on the way out.. Who would've thought the best things in life are served outside. The ground is covered with what looks and feels like a carpet- it's some sort of comfy tarp. I guess it's there because of the afternoons heavy rainfall, to protect us from the mud.. Shortly after 8 I notice the stage looks to be set up for Cake already-really? There really are no openers? This is awesome!

Stormed into the set with “Building a Religion”, I heard it as I was buying a water.. I still couldn't believe there wasn't an opener-how late can they run this? Moving along, “Sad songs and Waltzes” was the 2nd song they played. Something far from sad was when they got into 'Wheels' and couldn't pretend it wasn't there- somebody is smoking some pot somewhere near me and I have to find out who. Then I thought to myself “Stay focused- eyes on the prize, don't do it" . So I investigated no further and went back to taping... Started enjoying myself to the point where I forgot to take notes for a few minutes, which is odd for me. But somewhere before they went into "Frank Sinatra", John McCrea was lamenting about how the rain(which was at it's heaviest a hour to two earlier in the day) had finally stopped. Way to jinx it, halfway through “Frank Sinatra” I looked up at the lights and noticed the rainfall.. Wasn't raining hard but it was steady, really steady. All of us with cameras started a " No Um-brellas!" chant for all the people who needed to shelter themselves from the rain hence putting another annoyance in front of those who are taking pictures for the various websites we all contribute to.. Next was "Love you madly", and they ended the first half of their set with “Sheep go to Heaven” which I was really getting into.. Looked at my phone and it was 8:58..

During the little intermission I guess we'll call it an intermission, I looked down to notice the mud is seeping through the carpet..looks like there's puddles of coffee all over the place. Everywhere I stepped it's like quicksand-only real, and disgusting. Not the fashion connoisseur, but consider these sneaker done for. Also, there was a tree on the side of the stage that McCrea had some fun with. It's one of those trees you buy in the stores with the promise that you'll plant it somewhere and help earth blah blah blah.. He grabbed it and put it in the middle of the stage- saying it looked better there. There was many funny moments the lead singer granted us tonight.. from conducting  sing alongs from the stage, having different sides of the crowd sing different parts of the chorus to the continuous banter about the store bought tree. Think about it, Central Park-a place full of trees-when to Home Depot's home and garden dept. and bought a tree. It is truly a crazy world. Believe it was a figi apple tree, but not well versed in botany so I would double check that if you really care.

Came back out at 9:14 and played "Shadow Stabbing" and I have say for lack of a better term- it's getting pretty funky out here. Every Cake song comes equipped with a kick ass baseline that you wish you could insert into all your favorite songs. And how could you not be diggin' that trumpet action. Amazing.... Now, on to a not-Cake song, Black Sabbaths "War Pigs", which has been a staple of Cake's live set for a number of years...then an odd one- the lyric-less "Arco Arena”., a song where McCrea kills it playing lead... Jay- Z actually uses this song as the instrumental for a song on The Blueprint 2 called "Guns & Roses".. The 'vibraslap' wielding McCrea is credited for songwriting on The Blueprint 2's inner sleeve- odd facts that I know.. hey it was in my album collection in high school. Anyway on to "Jolene" the extended version I guess, as I turned to Pam and said “Wait, still Jolene right?”.. after which they play "Pentagram". Then, in a shocking turn of events-they played a new song off an upcoming new album! It was awesome. I stuck my camera in my pocket for this one. They made me like “Stick shifts and safety belts”, where as I was never that big a fan of the song. But they sucked me in tonight.. They then followed with “Never There” and tried to go off 9:54..

When they ran back out at 10 o'clock, I turned to Pam and said “ Short skirt Long Jacket and the Distance then home”. Well I was right on two of those three. As the got back on McCrea said something to the effect of “we're being told we need to get this one song done quickly and get outta here” before jumping into the one, the only, “The Distance”.. Show over roughly 10:05...

Besides no Short Skirt Long Jacket and some other obscure covers, cannot be disappointed with a full Evening with Cake.. had the little break in between and everything.. it was awesome and the best part was I didn't go to jail! So I can now listen to Cake's music with better memories.  

It also completes the 2^nd night of the Jay Porks “Three Nights of Weirdness”. Tomorrow night, at the same destination we will be rocking out to the music of Ween. Attending this show on high recommendation from people I know and people I don't know. Should be awesome-going to show up extremely early and try and get some better pics and videos for everyone, as tonight could been better in the sightlines category. Well, I'm tapped out for now, thanks for putting up with this non sense for a few minutes.. LATE..