Cake recently brought their “An Evening with Cake” tour through several dates across the U.S. When they announced a few dates here locally in North Carolina, I couldn’t wait to check them out. The band didn’t bring any openers for this tour, instead playing 2 sets themselves each night with a short intermission between.

On August 7th, the tour made a stop at Skyla Credit Union Amphitheatre in Charlotte, North Carolina. This is fully outdoor venue with no cover and was actually set to take place the same day hurricane Debby was hitting the coast of the state. While fans were expecting some rain, what surprised me is they still packed the venue. Everyone had their ponchos ready and were not a bit bothered. Cake hit the stage right at 8pm and while there were some clouds above, the skies were mostly blue. The band dove straight into “Frank Sinatra” off of 1996’s Fashion Nugget.

Before the show there was an announcement asking the audience to refrain from using cellphones during the show, which I’ve seen several bands do lately. It actually made for a different evening than I’m used to, I didn’t see a sea of cellphones in the air as usual. Every fan there was just enjoying the show, I didn’t hear complaints from this, only cheers. Cake played an awesome set during the first half of their evening, which even included a couple of their biggest hits “Sheep Go To Heaven” and “Rock ‘N Roll Lifestyle”

After the intermission, the band came back out for the tree giveaway. If you’re unfamiliar, Cake does this at every show. They give a tree to one enthusiastic audience member with their promise to plant it and share it with them later. You can actually see the forest the band has helped grow at their website. (https://www.cakemusic.com/copy-of-forest)

While we thoroughly enjoyed set 1, Cake‘s 2nd set of the evening only managed to get bigger and better. And even better, the rain managed to hold off until after the show. I don’t think any of these fans would have went running anyway. I saw such a variety of new fans and old in the crowd, many people bringing their whole families just for the show. It was indeed an awesome night of music.

I’m Music Magazine Associate Editor/Photographer Daphne McKinney