The Sea and Cake at Elsewhere
photo by Stephanie Augello

The Sea and Cake played @ Elsewhere w/ James Elkington (pics, review, setlist)

Last night at Elsewhere, The Sea and Cake seemed almost surprised to be performing in front of a packed crowd. Their opening act, James Elkington (guitarist for Jeff Tweedy, Steve Gunn, and more) warmed up the crowd with a few delicate, finger-picked tracks from his album Winters Woma. Starting promptly at 10:05, Sam Prekop, Archer Prewitt, and John McEntire dutifully played almost two hours of charming and enthusiastic indie rock spanning their prolific catalogue. The Sea and Cake were clearly in their prime: Archer Prewitt whipped out an EBow, which he finessed for some of the gentler guitar tones on Any Day tracks “Circle” and “Into Rain,” while Sam Prekop strummed on an ancient Telly that seemed perfectly suited to his baggy jeans and beat up desert boots. Prekop also referenced lyric cards throughout, a charming affect that emphasized the amount of care the band put towards their live performances.

About half the songs came from their new album Any Day, which just came out last week, but the crowd clearly favored “the classics,” a term that clearly amused Prekop as well: “Here’s an oldie – I can’t believe I’d ever say such a thing,” he mused before launching into “Afternoon Speaker,” complete with quirky symphonics and McEntire’s laser-precise drumming. The band got tons of love from the audience, with plenty of grown men yelling out “I love you Archer!” with enough irony to signal that, at least to them, The Sea and Cake was a band worthy of devoted fandom akin to One Direction in their prime. They walked off after an impressive 90-minute set, but most fans stuck around for the encore, which, much to everyone’s delight, stuck to the hits, wrapping up with “Coconut” and finally “Parasol” off of the band’s masterful sophomore album Nassau. While their new songs often were met with quiet but respectful reception, their encore brought out the band’s modest magic that reminded fans why they were in Bushwick to see a bunch of dudes in their fifties sing songs about loneliness.

Pictures from the show are in the gallery above and The Sea and Cake’s setlsit is below. Their tour hits Washington, DC tonight.

SETLIST: The Sea and Cake @ Elsewhere Hall 6/16/2018

– Four Corners
– Cover The Mountain
– Starling
– Afternoon Speaker
– Midtown
– Circle
– Harps
– Into Rain
– Day Moon
– New Patterns
– An Echo In
– The Staircase
– Any Day
– On a Letter
– I Should Care
– These Falling Arms
Encore:
– The Argument
– Coconut
– Parasol

photos by Stephanie Augello