Cake
Dear god. When I first heard "Short Skirt / Long Jacket" as the theme from Chuck, I never expected to see Cake live. I certainly never expected to even become a fan of theirs; "Jacket" had to grow on me from an initial annoyance of an intro to a shower-singing staple complete with shouts of "GETS UP EARLY" and "STAYS UP LATE".
When singer John McCrea came out in a trucker hat smacking a vibraphone like it was the last day of his life, the crowd morphed into one huge singing machine. Favorites like "Shadow Stabbing" and "Frank Sinatra" translated beautifully to a live setting complete with an energetic horn player (now becoming a trend at LouFest, seemingly) and keyboardist underlining every note with a thick brass sharpie.
Despite the curious absence of "The Distance", the band rolled out most of their hits proudly. When the likes of "Love You Madly" and "Jacket" started out, they were received with the warmth of an old friend who hadn't been seen in years. The na-nas in "Jacket" were transformed into a multiple-part crowd chorus which continued through the end of the song and set, even continuing as people left for Arctic Monkeys. "Madly" was especially well-received; it seemed as though every audience member knew every word.
The highlight of the powerful set was "Sheep Go To Heaven", an even better sing-along somehow than "Jacket". My friends, non-Cake fans who had followed me for lack of another option, were laughing hysterically as McCrea had us all repeat the mantra: "sheep go to heaven, goats go to hell". The set could actually be summed up well with a line from the song: "as soon as you're born you start dying, so you might as well have a good time".
Arctic Monkeys
Finally, it was time for day one to come to a close with brit-rock darlings Arctic Monkeys. I had missed their set in Columbia at The Blue Note, so I was excited to see, as my other friend puts it, a true "middle school classic". We had sacrificed a good spot at this set for our front-row at Cake, but that was okay because the lads were loud. Damn, were they loud.
They started off with "Do I Wanna Know?", which surprised me as it's currently their "song" for much of the audience. But the rest of the hour-and-a-half set was packed with songs from throughout the Monkeys' timeline. "Brianstorm" seemed a little weird set to a light show shaped like the AM logo, but it successfully whipped the crowd into the frenzy it was always designed to incite. By the time "Flourescent Adolescent" came on, the barriers between the new and old fans had mostly dissolved.
Though I'm not the biggest fan of the Monkeys, I was very pleased to hear those mid-2000s jams that I had almost forgotten. Mixed in with their much-matured new material, it shows a band clearly unafraid to evolve and push the limits of their sound. For a band that was almost pigeonholed with the rest of the "emo" movement thanks to "I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor", they made a strong case for their status as an enduring and respected rock act.
And with that, the first day was done. I'll continue shortly with day two, featuring Old Salt Union and Glass Animals!
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