My Story of the Cars in Concert 1979

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Cast Iron Shore, Jul 15, 2017.

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  1. acdc7369

    acdc7369 Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    Yeah you can see it even when you watch their performance at Live Aid. They sound fantastic live but they definitely seem to fail to capture the crowd.
     
  2. SJP

    SJP Forum Resident

    Location:
    Anaheim
    Heartbeat City Tour here. Technically my first concert.

    Staging and lighting perfect. Sound was outstanding, as was the execution the songs. Stage presence? Zilch. Could have put an '80's era stack stereo on stage and it would have had the same effect. A four-piece Wang Chung* opened the show and blew away The Cars from an overall performance standpoint.

    Still love the band but would be hard pressed to see them live again, even if they regrouped for an annual tour of the fair circuit and I had free tickets.


    * A later two-piece Wang Chung goes down as the worst show I have ever witnessed.
     
  3. 131east23

    131east23 Person of Interest

    Location:
    gone
    I took my (then) 10 year old son to see Kraftwerk a few years ago and it was four guys standing behind podiums manipulating computers. They had a huge screen behind them and on that screen they blended incredible images with these superb songs. It was totally engaging and memorable even though these guys never even moved or played a traditional instrument.
     
  4. Chuckee

    Chuckee Forum Resident

    Location:
    Upstate, NY, USA
    Saw them Oct. 1978 opening for Bob Seger. Was there more for the Cars. Can't remember many details, but I enjoyed it at the time. No fancy stage show, but I didn'treally care about that.
     
  5. Cast Iron Shore

    Cast Iron Shore Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    US
    A Kraftwerk concert exactly like the one you describe recently came out on blu-ray. Proof that musicians can stand still and still be engaging. Too bad whatever magic Kraftwerk had that enabled them to do that didn't work for the Cars.
     
    D.B. and trumpet sounds like this.
  6. lennonfan1

    lennonfan1 Senior Member

    Location:
    baltimore maryland
    Heartbeat City tour and loved it. Ben came out in this black sombrero that had little black balls hanging all around it:)...then he sang Think It Over.....total fun.
     
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  7. Cast Iron Shore

    Cast Iron Shore Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    US
    That's the period that I really would love to have seen them. I imagine that they were "hungry" back then, since in Oct '78 their debut album hadn't broken out as the huge hit it became. I imagine, based on nothing, that their show would have been more engaging then.

    Speaking of early Cars, it always surprises me how much the final tracks from the debut album resembled the demos. Based on listening to disc 2 of The Cars Deluxe Edition, it seems like all Roy Thomas Baker did was add to the already existing backing vocals some heavy layering (which Ocasek disliked at the time and told Roy Thomas Baker as much--shows how much power they had in the studio at that time, that Baker got his way over Ocasek, although Ric says he likes the layered backing vocals now).

    They had the arrangements already locked down on those demos, including the guitar solos and elements one might think would be added later.
     
    Last edited: Jul 15, 2017
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  8. Chuckee

    Chuckee Forum Resident

    Location:
    Upstate, NY, USA
    It did get some radio play over here, I think I had the album before I went.
     
  9. forthlin

    forthlin Member Chris & Vickie Cyber Support Team

    I only have a semi-Cars concert story. I lived in Miami in the late 70s, The Cars and The Knack were playing the same night (separate venues.) I could have gone to either but I chose The Knack. When I tell my friends this story they usually laugh at me, but having read some of the comments in this thread perhaps I chose wisely!;)
     
  10. Galactus2

    Galactus2 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Virginia
    I'm from the Boston area, and got to see them a couple of times in their prime. Not once were they lively and energetic, and I seem to recall the same assessment from my friends who also had seen them in that era.

    Studio band to the hilt.
     
    ARK, cartologist and trumpet sounds like this.
  11. marmil

    marmil It's such a long story...

    The woman who signed them to Elektra is a very old friend of mine, and she has always maintained that the main reason she signed them was on the strength of their live shows. The 1st time I saw them was at the Paradise in Boston and thought they were terrible, which is what I thought the other 3 or 4 times I saw them (the last time at the Boston Garden). But I guess she knew what she was doing cuz they sold many millions of records...
     
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  12. Glenn Christense

    Glenn Christense Foremost Beatles expert... on my block

    I wonder what the deal was ? Were they trying to be New Wave cool and aloof on purpose or did they just not have any interest in being entertaining?
     
  13. wwaldmanfan

    wwaldmanfan Born In The 50's

    Location:
    NJ
    The Cars made a big splash when they originally broke. I still have their first two albums in my music library. Your thread reminds me that I saw them at Madison Sq. Garden. I concur with everyone here. They were uninspired live, and boring, although, IIRC, Benjamin Orr tried harder than the others.

    They are still cool because that gangly dude Ocasek hooked up with one of the hottest women in the world, Pavlina Porizkova. Also, Elliot Easton is currently a member of the Unofficial Martin Guitar Forum free internet hobby forum (just Google "UMGF"), and you can communicate with him when he's around.
     
  14. joepepitone

    joepepitone Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    Never saw them, but I've read the same types of reviews as stated above. They were one of the bands that really exemplified what was being called new wave music.
    After the demise of punk rock in the late 70's, I took a break of sorts from live music. I started playing guitar around 1977 and was spending a lot of my music energy on becoming performer. Sadly, I missed a bunch of artists I would have enjoyed seeing - Nick Lowe, Elvis Costello and The Cars come to mind.
     
  15. agentalbert

    agentalbert Senior Member

    Location:
    San Antonio, TX
    That sounds.... I dunno. Something.

    I'm thinking of putting together a 2 person "band" where I operate a Panasonic tape player and my partner operates a film-strip projector.
     
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  16. wwaldmanfan

    wwaldmanfan Born In The 50's

    Location:
    NJ
    Not sure what Costello is up to these days, but Nick Lowe still tours. I've seen him twice in the last few years, both times at small venues in NJ. Of course, his current white-haired acoustic show is worlds different from the old Rockpile days, which was like witnessing a moon rocket liftoff.
     
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  17. no.nine

    no.nine (not his real name)

    Location:
    NYC
    Never saw them live myself, but I've heard lots of stories about them just standing there while recreating carbon copy renditions of their songs. And I've seen several clips online which seem to bear that out.

    But here's a great clip from an appearance on ABC's Fridays, where Ric is surprisingly animated during "Shoo Be Doo". This shows that at least he had it in him!

     
  18. Cast Iron Shore

    Cast Iron Shore Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    US
    Elektra may have liked the live shows but they were also highly influenced by the fact that Cars demo tapes showed up in heavy rotation at a major Boston rock radio station in the Gavin Report, championed by the music director who was a friend of the band, as "tape," e.g. not signed to a label, during a time when no known major rock station had any major unsigned radio hits. Ocasek recounts that generated a lot of the initial record label curiosity and interest. They had already proven themselves radio-friendly by the time they were signed, although they still had a long way to go up the chain before having a national hit.
     
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  19. notesfrom

    notesfrom Forum Resident

    Location:
    NC USA
    I think it was a New Wave cool. And they were probably a little burnt out from their auto-route to success. Those guys individually had been through mod-beat-rock of the 60s, heavy rock, and then the folk-rock and singer-songwriter early 70s era, with some back to basics rock thrown in. Rick had been in a CSNY type band as of '73. Three short years later he was fronting the Cars. Surprisingly, Orr was the oldest and pushing 30 when the Cars broke, and the other members were within 6 years of his age, so they had all been around for a while (Easton is the youngest, obviously, and moved around the most in concert). All the vocals/lyrics evoke an emotionality that is somewhat 'removed' - a slightly dispassionate passion, if that's possible.

    In another thread (link, below), I had likened them to the Cure in some regards - a band that probably gets called 'boring' in concert also.

    The Cars vs. The Cure
     
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  20. joepepitone

    joepepitone Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    I was about to make a snarky comment, but when Ric started playing guitar he redeemed himself. I always enjoyed Elliot Easton's guitars licks.
     
  21. Splungeworthy

    Splungeworthy Forum Rezidentura

    Thanks for posting this. That's the most animated I've seen them. They were great musicians, but I guess just creatures of the studio. I'd kill for a Fresca right now.
     
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  22. Cast Iron Shore

    Cast Iron Shore Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    US
    Speaking of PP, I recall a radio station interview with Ocasek in which the obnoxious DJ asked him "how could such a nerd like you land a beautiful model like Paulina?" His response? "Maybe if you weren't such a jerk you could land one too." Classic.

    Elliot always came across as a humble down to earth guy, so it seems in character that he would make himself available to his fans on that forum.
     
  23. Cast Iron Shore

    Cast Iron Shore Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    US
    Quite honestly I probably would have chosen the Knack as well. How could one pass up My Sharona? But I have the laser disc of them in concert at Carnegie Hall and that show wasn't any better than the Cars' so I guess it's a toss-up.
     
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  24. Solaresque

    Solaresque Forum Resident

    I must have seen them in Hartford on the Heartbeat City tour, and it was like watching a jukebox. Before the last song, one Car said (and it may have been the only thing spoken to the audience all evening), "Almost home." Rock and roll!
     
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  25. Cast Iron Shore

    Cast Iron Shore Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    US
    You're smashing my fantasy about their early years. I think I'm going to go put on the SACD of their first album, add some crowd noise from Frampton Comes Alive and pretend it's live.
     
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