My Story of the Cars in Concert 1979

Yes, The Cars sounded great. Also, very glad they made sure to show (multiple times) Phil Collins was landing at the airport! LOL

 

They did sound very good at Live Aid. I think they were trying a little bit harder than usual to mak shau, and it helped. It also helped that they were playing along with a backing track that, probably among other things, had the lush backing vocals.

 

I saw them on the Candy-O tour, but I can't remember who the opener was. I actually think they may not have had an opening act.

 

It was the worst concert I ever saw. No one in the band said one single word to the audience during the entire show. They just stood there looking so bored and played and they weren't that good either. They really are a studio band. The live harmonies weren't as good and even the great Elliot Easton couldn't play the same solo's he did on the albums.

 

Au contraire... Elliot Easton could and did play the same solos he did on the albums, as proven in the many live clips of the band. Say what you will about their stage manner, but you really can't fault their instrumental chops.

 

I guess it was an off night for Easton.

 

Hello caller, we've now crossed a line in this thread, travelling from reality and genuinely-experienced recollections...to revisionist, oddly vitriolic, somehow self-serving, rambling.


The CARS might have been visually stagnant onstage but they always delivered the audio...always sounded GREAT while playing live.


Plenty of bootleg and official live recording documentation to substantiate my claim.

And approximately zero evidence to support the contrarian point of view.


P.S. I personally witnessed the Panorama Tour in Ohio, back in 1980. Simply amazing concert!


When Ben stepped to the mic to sing "Down Boys," it was way beyond cool...forgeddaboutit!...and we loved it bigtime.

 

Could have been, everybody has an off day. However, he impressed me mightily some years ago when I saw The New Cars, after they had their unfortunate touring bus accident, and Elliot was awaiting shoulder surgery, wearing a sling, and on heavy pain meds... and he still played as well as I've ever heard him, including a fantastic extended solo on (I think it was) "Moving in Stereo". They guy is an excellent musician and a trouper!

 

Totally agree. At this point this thread is just piling on and some of it is mean spirited.

Lots of bands are boring live. How exciting were the Beatles on that rooftop? It wasn't James Brown, didn't see Lennon doing any splits.
They looked like they were freezing their asses off. It was exciting just to see them actually appear live!



.

 

Every time I saw The Cars, Easton was a monster!

 

That's a great story. I too have always been very impressed by Elliot, on record and live. The guy is amazing and I always thought quite underrated. I'm not sure why he isn't a bigger deal. You never hear his name mentioned when people are talking about guitar heros, but I think he qualifies!

 

I think there's a big difference. The Beatles rooftop concert was 5 musicians interacting with each other. You could see them look at each other and reacting with the music. There was no stage production and no pretense. Glitzy lights and stage business are fine, but a band playing off each other and obviously digging it is what I like the most.

In contrast, The Cars stage show was intentionally cold. The band refrained from interacting with each other and with the audience in order to foster their cool, ironic image. I appreciate that they approached their stage show with a concept in mind, but I think it ultimately worked against them and left many fans with unpleasant memories of their concerts. I think they were interacting on an aural level, but it didn't come across on stage very well. It was a failed experiment.

 

There were many instances of Ben & Elliot interacting with each other during a Cars show.

 

Fast forward to 2009. I'm in a fancy venue right out of DC waiting to see Todd Rundgren on his brief but beautiful A Wizard/A True Star tour during which he played the entire album in sequence, with Utopia opening.

There standing right in front of me is Greg Hawkes. He is sipping from a clear cheap plastic goblet of wine, which he, and all other patrons there, paid a dear $8, chatting away with one of the Utopia guys. His white hair and wrinkled but somehow still boyish features were unmistakable. I want to tell him my Cars story, but I think better of it, as I figure it wouldn't be cool to bother him, and he also might not be a fan of diet soda.

 

I saw them in Atlanta at the Omni in the early eighties for either the "Panorama" or "Shake It Up" tour. They sounded fine to me, as far as I remember.

 

I couldn't find a thread on the debut album so I'm posting the following here. I've seen many, many videos of the Cars playing Just What I Needed, throughout their career, and live Ric always sings "I like the way she dips," while on the record he sings "I like the way it skips." I'm wondering if Roy Thomas Baker told him to change the line, but he only did it once, for the album? There has to be a story in there.

 

I saw them in Boston at the Music Hall in 1979 too, same experience. Even in their "hometown" ("The Cahs") they played it by number, stiff and detached, with the occasional exception of Ben Orr. They had had a week off, so it could've have been fatigue. Pretty disappointing

 

I don't remember an opening act either.

 

I remember sharing a flight on a Southwest plane with the Cars and their entourage. It was from LAX to San Francisco in the late 1970's. They were all sitting on a bench in the waiting area before the flight. The image in my mind of them all sitting together reminded me that it could have been a great promo shot. The were all very cool to everyone on the plane. I really like the first two Cars albums and I consider them one of the pioneers of the New Wave music scene although they probably wouldn't categorize themselves as that.

 

I was watching the clip (youtube) from Live Aid. It was not bad at all. Ocasek is just not a very exciting performer.

Yes, the cutaways to the concorde were annoying.
I probably was watching this on TV at the time.

 

I saw them in 78 or 79. I still can't conceive how a band that created that first album could sound so bad live. It was as if they just picked up instruments 3 weeks prior to the show. The audience was just looking at each other with mouths agape.

 

I saw the Cars when I was 16 at the Miami Jai-Alai in October of 1979. I think it was their Candy-O tour. I don't recall the opening act. But I thought it was a solid show. They weren't flashy and didn't interact with the audience a lot. But it was a great show. I think I still have the t-shirt I bought that night.

 

I grew up in Tulsa OK........the closest Car's tour was in Dallas TX at Reunion Arena in September of 1984 (Hearbeat City tour). I was a few days shy of 16, and 3 of my friends were driving in a 77 Camaro to the concert (5 hour drive), and had an extra ticket. But my parents wouldn't let me go.......ahhhhhhhhh. The next time I saw my buds at school, they all had their shirts, and living large....man, did they ever rub it in.

 

I ended up seeing them on their Door To Door tour in 87..........meh.

 

The odd thing is that when I watch them live on YouTube, it's engaging in a way I didn't experience them when I saw them.