Midway through Cake's Monday night show at the Taft Theatre, following one of many impromptu band conferences, lead singer John McCrea addressed the crowd: “We don't use a set-list. It appears very unprofessional, but we play the songs we feel like playing at that moment and feel we serve you better that way.”

        Unconventional is one way to describe the Sacramento, Calif.-based alternative rock quintet. Monday's 100-minute performance demonstrated that every song the band performs is instantly recognizable as vintage Cake, blending instrumentation that prominently features trumpet and a rattle with Mr. McCrae's distinctive mix of spoken and sung lyrics.

        Cake is also unmistakably untrendy — so unconcerned with trends as to absolutely embody coolness. The band wore typical rock star apparel Monday night; Mr. McCrea sported a disheveled V-neck sweater and mesh-backed baseball cap worn forward with the brim stiff. Furthermore the songs Cake covered, from “Sad Songs and Waltzes” to “I Will Survive,” though performed splendidly, were hardly typical rock star fare.

        Perhaps it is their rejection of the norm that has won Cake an impressive and die-hard fan base. While the Taft set opened with the band's newer stuff, including the instrumental “Arco Arena” and “Comfort Eagle” it was the older material — “Frank Sinatra,” “The Distance,” “Nugget” and, in particular “Mr. Mastodon Farm” — that were received most enthusiastically.

        Nearly every song was performed true to the album versions. Besides the older songs, the more recent “Short Skirt/Long Jacket,” “Love You Madly” and “Never There” were outstanding, as was Mr. McCrae's frequent wordplay and deadpan delivery.

        That said, an endless number of audience participation events in the latter half of the show, with fans in the balcony pitted against those on the floor wore thin. Crowd rapport can be fun, but repeated moments such as these, especially ironic for Cake, felt like standard, trendy concert fare.

        For those willing to give them a listen, folk-country show openers Nerissa and Katryna Nields were a pleasant surprise. Maybe not the best match for a Cake crowd, the sister's Love and China, due next month, should still be worth a try.

Winter vegetable stew warms hearts
Stew recipes
A battle for education in Afghanistan
Advice by the book
Dayton theater's 'Macbeth' furious
Focused 'Two Rooms' good fit to small stage
Morales opts for positive roles
Pops Olympics show clears some hurdles
'Producers' national tour headed for Cincinnati stop
Quirky Cake satisfies fans' appetite