CAKE in Birmingham

About CAKE

CAKE formed in Sacramento in the mid-90s and built a devoted following through sheer weirdness and craft. They're the band that sounds like they're always slightly amused by their own existence. "The Distance" and "Short Skirt/Long Jacket" became unlikely radio hits despite being fundamentally strange songs—deadpan, synth-driven, built on the kind of angular guitar work that shouldn't work with horn sections but somehow does. Their records are dense with detail: cheap drum machines paired with live drums, minimalist vocals that sit far back in the mix, and this pervasive sense that they're playing inside some private joke. The band never chased trends, which meant they spent years as a cult thing before suddenly landing on soundtracks and sports broadcasts. They've remained prolific and largely indifferent to outside expectations, which is basically the only way to maintain sanity as a band this singular for this long.

CAKE shows feel intentionally awkward in a way that works. The horn players are dead serious. The crowd gets it or doesn't. Nobody's trying to whip up energy—it's all precision and restraint. Genuinely weird vibe, in the best way.

Known for The Distance, Never There, Short Skirt/Long Jacket, Going the Distance, Love You Less

CAKE + Birmingham

CAKE rolled through Avondale Brewing Company in September 2024, settling into the kind of venue that suits their particular brand of smart-aleck rock. They opened with Laurie Anderson's "O Superman"—a choice that immediately signals you're in for something that refuses to take itself seriously—then pivoted to their own "War/Fanatra from Rocky IV," a mashup that perfectly encapsulates their whole thing: taking disparate cultural references and making them weirdly coherent. The setlist was a mix of their bones-deep material: "Sheep Go to Heaven," "Short Skirt/Long Jacket," "The Distance." They even dug into the deeper cuts like "Opera Singer" and "Tree Giveaway," suggesting they weren't just hitting the obvious marks. Closed the night with "Training Montage" from Rocky IV, which is either the most CAKE thing possible or the least, depending on how you feel about their whole project.

CAKE in Birmingham News

• Cake artists' creations wow Birmingham NEC exhibition goers BBC · Nov 1, 2025
• Six-foot life size Thriller Michael Jackson tribute at Birmingham Cake Show Yahoo News UK · Oct 31, 2025
• Six-foot life size Thriller Michael Jackson tribute at Birmingham Cake Show | ITV News ITVX · Oct 31, 2025
• Iconic ’90s rock band playing 3 shows in Alabama: ‘A record’s going to happen’ AL.com · Oct 15, 2025
• Ozzy Osbourne & Black Sabbath's Emotional Farewell Gig in Birmingham: Fans Celebrate Iconic Concert Deccan Herald · Jul 5, 2025

Live Music in Birmingham

Birmingham's music scene has always been fragmented but vital—blues and soul going back decades, then a scrappy indie and alternative contingent that emerged in the 90s and never really stopped. CAKE, with their angular art-rock sensibility and refusal to fit neatly into any category, tends to appeal to the same crowd that appreciates the city's harder-to-classify acts. The Avondale space itself represents Birmingham's ongoing reclamation of old industrial infrastructure for cultural purposes, which aligns with CAKE's whole deconstructivist ethos.

Birmingham road trip to see CAKE?

Stay in Forest Park—tree-lined streets, restored homes, close to downtown without feeling generic. Eat at Chez Fon Fon for excellent French-Italian food in a real neighborhood setting, or Goro Ramen for something more casual but excellent. Spend an afternoon at the Birmingham Museum of Art, which is genuinely worth your time and free. Walk through the Pepper Place district afterward for galleries and coffee. The city's Civil Rights history is significant; the 16th Street Baptist Church is essential if you have the time and reflective headspace.