Cake Concert: The Story of Dan

One afternoon, I was listening to CAKE on Spotify when I saw that the band was on tour. I got super excited and told my friends about it. We all wanted to go to the concert, but the closest one was a 2.5-hour drive away. We had a problem, how could we get our parents to say yes? So, we came up with a plan.

On the night of the concert, I'd be the one driving, and I'd pick up my friends. All we needed was our parents' permission. One of my friends talked to his dad, who said he could only go if we had an adult driving. That's when the trouble started because we couldn't find any adults who could come. We asked a bunch of people, but most of them couldn't make it because they had other plans, or they didn't want to stay out so late. We were getting desperate, so we had this crazy idea: what if we made up an adult? We convinced a friend of friends, a random 18-year-old guy to come along and we didn’t know his name so we called him Dan, and we even set up a VOIP number (Voice Over Internet Protocol) for him to talk to my friend's dad. We reassured my friend's dad that we had an adult going with us (which was technically true) and that we'd be safe at the CAKE concert.  On the day of the concert, I picked up Dan and reassured his worried mom. I did all the driving, and as we got closer to the concert venue, I got more and more excited.

The concert was spectacular! The light show was incredible, and when John McCrea came out, the crowd went crazy with excitement. I felt shivers as the lights and the comforting tune changed into Frank Sinatra, one of CAKE's songs. We even moved to seats closer to the stage, and sang along to "Sick Of You" while wearing matching $40 T-shirts (there were 4 of us so we spent $160 in total). The concert concluded with a couple of encores and "War Pigs" gave the concert a satisfying climax and conclusion.  After the concert, we convinced our friend Zach to buy us pizza, even though he initially didn't want to pay for it. Then, I drove everyone back home. 

Looking back we probably didn’t need to take Dan at all. My friend's dad never actually contacted him in the first place and the concert would’ve been cheaper if we didn’t have to buy him a ticket. Even though we didn't know him well, we all had a great time. This experience taught me the importance of thinking fast and working together to overcome challenges. It also helped me understand my friends better, showing how far we'd go to create memorable moments together. Our trip to the CAKE concert wasn't just about the music; it became a cherished part of our history, making our friendships stronger and leaving us with stories to treasure for years.