My Story of the Cars in Concert 1979

This about sums it up for me.

 

Basically, they were The Strokes 25 years early.

 

I'd argue Julian Casablancas and co used to move around more. Plus I don't remember Ric Ocasek ever walking through the audience during shows.

 

Very fun thread, one of the more interesting ones I've read in a while, thank you!

You've touched on something that doesn't happen (much) anymore: 'hip' radio stations that influence popular music by backing relative unknowns. WBCN in Boston was such a powerful influencer, not just in New England, but along with a handful of other big stations in major cities across the country, could make stars out of unknowns. I miss those days, but they are long gone.

I never saw the Cars in concert, but they always struck me as a band with a minimalist, streamlined sound and look, so the reviews of their concerts don't surprise me a bit. Their first two albums in particular sure sounded killer coming out of the speakers in my living room.

 

Very neat. During that period, the British band The Records were touring with The Cars as their opening act. There is some live footage out there from parts of the tour, including the tv concert The Cars filmed with The Records for The Midnight Special show. The Records are a great rock band and both Ben and Ric talk positively about touring with them in the last interview from the Musikladen DVD.

 

I love that the Cars were actively involved in promoting unknown bands in which they believed, Suicide for example, by having them open for them on tour and letting them use their recording studio once they had it set up. I always thought it odd that the Cars recorded only one album in their own studio.

 

Mentioned before but not embedded in the post: A great documentary about the Cars and Elliot Easton in particular made at the height of their creativity. It looks like it was shot by a film student, possessing a certain charm.

 

I grew up listening to free-form FM radio in the Boston area (WBCN) in the 70s. I even entertained the idea of being a DJ, but by the time I was close to it being a possible career playlists were increasingly programmed and predictable. I appreciated the role that creative chance-taking DJs played in breaking new bands, but at the same time, I realized that my favorite DJs were only playing a very small fraction of what was out there in the world. It hit home when I began working at Strawberries (northeast record store chain) in the late 70s. Now it wasn't just conceptual, it was visual. We stocked thousands of albums by hundreds of artists from dozens of genres, many that defied easy categorization, but I could fit all of the albums being played on 'BCN into one small bin. As much as I liked rock radio, I was only getting exposed to 1% of what was available, and it wasn't because the other 99% was somehow inferior. My interest in hearing the same 50 songs over and over waned. I started to devour reviews and commentary in a host of music magazines. It still wasn't the world, but it offered a broader menu of possibilities than what was ordained for FM airplay. Fast-forward a few decades and I'm still using the same approach, only most of the detective work takes place online. While I'm sort of nostalgic for 60s/70s free-from FM radio, there is a multitude of internet radio stations broadcasting from around the world that provide an infinite variety of programming.

Of course, the one huge downside to this expanding cornucopia of whatever you want, whenever you want it, is that artists are being royally screwed by Spotify and other streaming services. So it takes more effort as a consumer to ensure the artists you like are compensated, beyond tour and merch income. That aside (and it's a lot to put aside), there's never been more music to explore than there is today, and all of it is infinitely more accessible.

 

A colleague of mine saw them and had the exact same reaction as you. Most lifeless show he ever saw.

 

Great story about your mom and dad! I pictured young me and my dad in line holding the Fresca.
I totally recall Fresca but never saw The Cars.

 

Love The Cars. Have seen them live, and yes, they were not engaging in the least. I now play lead guitar in a Cars tribute band and I've gotta say this material is a lot of fun to play.

 

Yes the Cars live were not much to look at but they sounded great when I saw them. Does Ric reign Elliot in? Elliot really tore it up when I saw The New Cars!!

 

I believe he did reign him in a bit.

 

I saw them on the Heartbeat City tour at the Cow Palace in San Francisco when I was about a sophomore in High School. They were my favorite band at the time. It was one of my first real concerts, and I was so excited to be going... but the show was exactly as you described. No engagement with the crowd. I don't recall any banter between songs - not even a "Hello, San Francisco" or a "Thank You; see you next time!" They could have been robots. The playing was fine, but they hardly moved and they never spoke. I still tell people about it to this day. What an anticlimactic experience.

 

I saw'em at the Oakland Coliseum in support of the debut. Yes, I agree as a band, there wasn't much there in how to engage an audience, just simply relying on their songs to entertain. The thing I remember most about the evening was the opening band, ANGEL. I couldn't name a song, but how they simply vanished/disappeared off the stage when their set was done. Gimmicks.

For what it's worth, the first three Cars records (including Panorama) hold up pretty well.

 

I would love to see your Cars tribute band play the entire debut album in sequence. If the musicians are good it could be at least as engaging as an actual Cars concert. I do wonder what I would think now if I now could see the same show I saw when I was 11. But given the overwhelming number of responses of people who experienced the Cars the same way I did as a tween, I imagine it might still be underwhelming. Thank God for the albums.

 

As I have stated, I saw The Cars as a band 5 times. And the Top 2 best shows were smaller venues. The Metro and Music Hall in Boston.
They did not benefit at all moving from the clubs to hockey arena's. They definitely sizzled more in the smaller venues.

 

More than any other Major Boston band (think Aerosmith, Boston, Geils..). The Cars gave so much more than those bands to the local music scene. Especially in studio time and producing. Really amazing stuff when you
think about it. Ric produced Peter Dayton Band (ex of LaPeste), The Dark. David produced Boys Life , Ooh Ah Ah who he played live with as the drummer (a show i attended), Vinny. I think Elliot produced
Til Tuesday's demo of Love in a Vacuum.
Ric also produced at Syncro, Alan Vega - Saturn Strip excellent album! Romeo Void- Benefactor, BeBe Buell. Also Ric's solo album Beatitude had all local musicians on it. Greg Hawkes produced his E.P. Jet Lag
and L.P. Niagara Falls at Syncro. The members of The Cars were everywhere in Boston. I always saw Ric driving his Jag up at the top of Newbury St.

It is strange they did not record another proper band album at Syncro, but considering the amount of work done there in such a short span of time, somewhat amazing.

 

My favorite band. I saw them in 1987 the night before they were on Saturday Night Live. They were ok. I think Ben was drunk....not fall down or anything.
They purposely were told not to act like regular rock stars. I think they dumbed down their live act. This clip shows they could cook if they wanted to....and be animated.

 

Here is a cool track Ric produced for Sarah Burrill. At that time in 1982 she was working at Spit (local bar). Dini Lamot from Human Sexual Response
brought Ric a tape of her singing. He produced this for her.

 

I've been getting into the band a bit, these past several months...listening to songs in YouTube and buying the complete greatest hits disc. And, by sheer luck last week, I came across the DCC disc of the debut album at Goodwill...$10...score...and I wasn't even looking for it

 

My Story of the Cars in Concert 1979

 

Same tour, Vancouver Pacific Coliseum, exact same experience. To say The Cars were a disappointment is an understatement. Some bands are definitely not arena friendly. I still enjoy the Cars early stuff but their show stands as my first negative concert experience. To add insult to injury. Vancouver's own Nick Gilder opened and was promptly booed off the stage. As I recall, his fans were upset because he had gone disco or something lol

 

The Cars live on Midnight Special with a strange intro by Larry Gatlin and no sunglasses on Ric.

 

From the same program and tour, The Records performing live.