Cake Puts On a Sweet, Sweet Show at the Shelburne Museum

May 30, 2017

It’s finally outdoor concert season, and we could not be more excited! Last Saturday we officially kicked off the Ben & Jerry’s Concerts on the Green Series with an outstanding performance from one of our faves: Cake!

A Sweet Career

As dessert lovers, we might be a little biased in the cake department. (After all, some of our best flavors are cake-inspired.) And as lovers of rockin’ guitar riffs and the odd brash trumpet solo, we have nothing but praise for the band, either. Formed in 1991, Cake was a perfect addition to the 90’s alt-rock scene that produced heavy-hitters like Weezer and Pearl Jam. And with their quintessential trumpet sound and those quirky lyrics, they stood out enough to become a memorable presence in the music world.

Cake found success when their second studio album, Fashion Nugget, went platinum in 1997. Remember the song “The Distance”? Yup, that was from Fashion Nugget. But it didn’t end there — their 1998 album Prolonging the Magic went platinum as well, and 2001’s Comfort Eagle went gold (“Short Skirt/Long Jacket”, anybody?). Not too shabby for a ragtag group of music-heads from Sacramento, CA.

And they’ve barely slowed down in the new millennium. In 2004, they released Pressure Chief, and 2011 saw Showroom of Compassion, an album that Rolling Stone says “stayed true” to their classic sound.

The Cake Forest

For years now, Cake shows have featured one of the neatest ways of giving back to their fans (and Mother Earth) that we’ve ever seen. At every show, they give away a tree sapling — usually a fruit tree — to a lucky fan in the audience. Then tree recipients can send the band a photo of their tree after they’ve planted it and have it featured on the band’s online Cake Forest. At Saturday's performance, they gave away a Macintosh sapling to an audience member and bantered about how to make sure he would upload a picture to the Cake Forest. Pics or it didn't happen, right?

But, not content to end their good works there, the band also runs an advice column on their website where fans can write in with questions about music and life and the band responds with their thoughts and suggestions. We’re thinking of writing in to ask about all their favorite Ben & Jerry’s flavors.

We Saw You Shakin’ It

One thing we have always loved about Cake is that you don’t need to know every song and every lyric to enjoy them. All their songs are instantly catchy and danceable and you’ll be humming them long after you leave the venue. If the folks in the audience at Saturday’s show weren’t fans when they arrived, they sure were when they left. (Oh yeah, we saw you shakin’ it to "Sheep Go to Heaven, Goats Go to Hell".)

At Saturday’s show, the weather was great, the songs were rockin', and the ice cream flowed all night. Between iconic songs, the band bantered lightheartedly with the audience. People danced, threw Frisbees, blew bubbles, enjoyed a great selection of local brews, and a wonderful time was had by all. 

Want to join the fun? Check out our next Concert on the Green performance: Lake Street Dive on June 16th at the Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, VT.