Sunday night, Cake performed a stealth show during the Assembly of Dust’s after-dark set at the Jazz Aspen Snowmass Labor Day Festival. Towards the end of AOD’s set at the Mountain Dragon, a venue which doubles as a Chinese restaurant by day, Cake trumpeter Vince di Fiore joined the group for a run through ‘Filter.’ AOD soon yielded to a full-band set by Cake, which performed the following afternoon on the festival’s main stage. Cake treated fans to 45 minutes of material, mostly drown from its forthcoming album Pressure Chief, highlighted by ‘Carbon Monoxide.’

Cake’s performance was one of several high-profile collaborations which transpired during the four-day festival. Earlier that afternoon, San Francisco saxophonist John Handy joined the Steve Miller Band for the majority of its set, performing selections by Ray Charles, T. Bone Burnett and Miller himself. During its Sunday night show in the Snowmass Village Cabaret Room, members of the Motet filtered onstage with Ray’s Music Exchange, which performed a last-minute gig after Jon Cleary bowed out of the weekend’s festivities.
Despite a serious downpour, David Byrne went ahead with his scheduled Saturday night gig, though the inclement weather prevented the Tosca Strings from buffing up the guitarist’s _My Backwards Life _material. Byrne instead performed a series of stripped-down Talking Heads songs before an estimated 9,000 fans.
Friday night Jazz Aspen Snowmass saw a record crowd of 11,000 during a performance by Jack Johnson. Throughout the day, Johnson jammed with openers and surfing buddies Donovan Frankenreiter and G. Love(performing with Special Sauce). Johnson also paid a late-night visit to the Animal Liberation Orchestra, which headlined a two-night stand at Snowmass’ Blue Door club.