My Story of the Cars in Concert 1979

I always think it's weird when people complain about the Cars live act. I mean... what were you expecting? Paul Stanley fronting a reserved new wave act? David Lee Roth style scissor-kicks during "Best Friends Girl?" It's bizarre to me.

I mean I grew up seeing lots of concerts in the 80s and very few did anything all that special. Sure they may speak to the audience. They may have all said "it's really nice to be rocking tonight... in Miami!" Does that make it a better show than them saying nothing at all?

Nevertheless I've seen the Cars twice. Once was during the Heartbeat City tour. The sets were huge with televisions on moving perches. It was cool to look at. But yeah the band just did their thing and moved on to the next track. The biggest surprise of the set was when they played "Jimmy Jimmy." Lots of the keys were sequenced and there was obviously some drum programming going on too. Still we enjoyed ourselves quite a bit and it was a cool night of music.

The next time was on the Move Like This tour which was very exciting to me to see. I think it was the last night of the tour or close to it. They seemed kind of nervous up there as if all those years of not really playing together were still being worked through. But they were great! Lots of fun. They had a technical issue or 2 and Ric was obviously reading lyrics from a mounted iPad but again being in a large room filled with fans and hearing those songs live was a great experience. And sadly perhaps for the last time. Although I do hope they consider doing it again. It's a great album.

 

Also, they released those first four albums in four years. (The glossiness of Shake It Up may have been overcompensating for the dark Berlin-noir overtones of Panorama.) They made a lasting impact within that time-frame because the product kept coming, and then they were adopted by MTV at the end of that run.

It brought to mind several other bands from that period made a big four or five year push with lots of make or break action and albums every year - back when it was more or less 'normal'. The creatively was a little out of control...

Here's just a few examples:

Cars ’78-’81
Cheap Trick ’77-’80 (five studio Lps in four years)
Blondie ’76-’80 (two albums in ’78, none in ’77)
Clash ’77-’82 (double album in 1979; triple album in 1980; singles in ’81)
Devo ’78-’82
Elvis Costello ‘ ’77-’84
Talking Heads ’77-’80
The Jam ’77-’80
Siouxsie & The Banshees ’78-’82
The Cure ’79-’82
Pat Benatar '79-'85

A few throwback bands to the product-every-year formula:

Replacements ’81-’85
R.E.M. ’83-’88
The Smiths ’84-’87

Others:

Billy Joel '76-'80
The Kinks '77-'84
Bob Dylan ’78-’81
Elton John '78-'86
Kiss '79-'85
Styx '72-'79
Journey '75-'81
Hall and Oates '72-'82
Donna Summer '79-'84
AC/DC '76-'81

Michael Jackson was a major trend-bucker here. His ten solo albums coming in 1972, 1973, 1975, 1979, 1982, 1987, 1991, 1995, 2001. He kind of paved the way for the new normal.

 

I remember buying the "Just What I Needed" and "My Best Friend's Girl" singles in 1978. They were 2 of the first 45s I bought. Loved the Cars, and continued to buy singles (followed by albums) as I grew up. I think I got Candy-O for Xmas in 1979.
Never saw them live though.....

 

I saw the Cars on December 28, 1978 at the (soon to be demolished) Pontiac Silverdome. I was 13 years old, they were the opening act for Ted Nugent.

I remember being reasonably into the Cars at the point, they were getting radio play for the first album. I don't think Candy-O was out yet. I had the debut album on cassette the following year.

I've posted about this show (my 2nd rock concert) many times here. I didn't care for Nugent much, but my older cousins that I went with liked him. I had two stoner guys sit next to me and roll and smoke the whole concert. It was a very loud, bass-heavy mix echoing in the dome. I liked that they had 2 distinct lead singers for different songs.

 

They put on a good show for the Rock Goes to College dvd.

 

I agree, and I've seen other live YouTube videos that sound great. That's why I don't understand why/how what I saw, and what so many other people report, was so different.

 

Oops. I sure did, unfortunately. May be a case of me hearing what I wanted to hear, hoping that someone, anyone had a great, not just acceptable, experience of them live.

 

They were so unfairly maligned in the UK I'm sure it couldn't have been easy to play without being self conscious, but here's the video you referenced.

 

Yes I don't understand why they're considered so boring live. No one talks about any other band in such a way repeatedly like this. Is it simply just the case of people repeating something they heard? I've heard this long before this thread was ever posted for years. I'm not sure what people are exactly expecting either.

Ben Orr mouths something like "I'm going to get you" after someone throws something at around the 29 minute point. I always thought this show was entertaining when I first saw it 10 years ago or so.

 

It was not an idea that we developed later. It is what we were thinking and saying standing there in the middle of the war memorial in 1979.
There are plenty of bands I would even not go to see because I find them boring on record.
I like the Cars (on record). I was there. It was not like people were falling asleep or leaving. They just stood out as relatively boring compared to other live acts at the time that I (and my peers) were seeing.

 

That would be bizarre but I don't imagine that kind of extreme is what people are talking about; I saw them on the Candy-O tour and they were much like the bulk of stories told here. I can only speak for myself but I expect a live show to be just that...somewhat live(ly). If you buy your ticket and show up and the band plays the songs just like the records, doesn't engage with the audience or each other much/at all, and seems uncomfortable at best and disinterested at worst then the audience can end up feeling that same ambivalence towards said band. Having said that, I love The Cars' music but, as a live audience member, I wanted them to love us back a bit more than they typically showed. I'm not talking about pandering to an audience, I'm talking about making a connection, that's all, Doesn't change my love for the music, though...

 

Saw then in 1982 at the Boston Garden with a large group of kids. I liked them but was not a huge fan, was more interested in the opener Nick Lowe. I thought Nick Lowe was great but didn't think much of the Cars. No energy, boring. Can't remember much else other than most of my friends, who were huge Cars fans, were not too impressed either.

 

I saw them open for Styx in 1978 and at the Us festival in the early 80s. They were decent. Nothing to write home about.

 

I was referring to their records being unfairly maligned in the UK rather than their live act, my feelings about which were described in the first post.

In the UK, unlike in the US, their first single was a picture disc. This turned out to be a terrible move because it led to the perception that they were a stadium rock band, verboten in 1978 when the Brits had an attitude about anything that impinged on what they felt was their music (punk). This makes little sense to me, that picture disc=sellout/arena rock, but it's what happened according to the band and UK music papers. It is especially ironic in light of the fact that they recorded their first album in the UK.

 

No, that wasn't the perception of The Cars in Britain in 1978. Everyone could tell they were a new wave-type band.

The perception, actually, was that they'd been hyped into the Top Ten, since nobody had ever heard of them before, and nobody knew anyone who had bought their single (or even liked it very much).

Even if that was a misinterpretation of the real facts, it took a long time for The Cars to live it down.

 

Yes, my understanding is this is correct in addition to what I wrote.

 

Why would all the people posting here make up the fact that they thought the Cars were boring live ? Almost everyone that stated that opinion have said they love the Cars records.

It's not like they have some sort of anti Cars agenda. I doubt that they went to the shows secretly hoping the Cars were boring so they could spread the word.

 

This is exactly what I was trying to put across, although you said it much more eloquently than I did. My opinion of the concert I saw doesn't take away one iota from my opinion that Ric was a truly brilliant songwriter, and that their early recorded output created a standard that few other bands of the era could match.

I agree with the apologists in that I think it's fine for a live act to stand still and not engage in banter with the audience or even each other. However, there were bands that were able to do that and still left the audience feeling engaged and excited. Talking Heads stood still during their shows and said little to nothing to their audiences, but were highly engaging performers. In 1977/78 the most David Byrne would say to the audience is "the name of this song is..." and he certainly never engaged in any kind of banter such as "how are you doing? You feeling good tonight?"

 

My first Cars show was October 1978. They were opening for Styx. I remember we listened to the cassette of their first album going to the show. I had not heard it until that night and I loved it. The show was great. They only played about 30-40 minutes but for an opening act it was really good. It was my first time seeing Styx too and they were great. Fast forward about a year to September 1979. The first album was a monster. Candy-O was maybe a small notch below but still a great album. The Cars were now headlining the Sports Arena with Nick Gilder opening. Ugh. Nick Gilder = terrible. Cars = boring. They stood in place and stared at their shoes. The only movement on stage was when Rick or Ben stepped forward to the mic. That was my last Cars show. Still love the albums but not worth seeing in concert.

 

Anyone know who else may have opened for The Cars in fall 1979? I am pretty sure I didn't see Nick Gilder (not positive).

 

I loved how the drums were on stage right for the Heartbeat tour. Highly imaginative stage arrangement.

 

FRESCA® was, is, and always shall be fabulously refreshing!

 

I never saw The Cars back in the day, but I've seen a bunch of live videos from that time, and I did finally see them in 2011 when they were promoting "Move Like This". Some thoughts...

- There are a couple of approaches to playing live. One is to take the record as a jumping-off point and letting the music take it where it will. Then there are those that want to perfectly reproduce the record live. Clearly, The Cars were in the latter camp. In their later years they often played with pre-recorded backing tracks, which further discouraged spontaneity. The only one of the group that could function as a typical rock front man was Ben Orr, and the times when he stepped out front seemed to be the warmest parts of the show. Ocasek was the cold yin to Orr's yang.

- Their whole image was designed to be cool, ironic, detached, slightly hipper-than-thou. Their stoic stage presentation and videos were intended to support the image. Jumping around and smiling would have worked against it.

- When I saw them during their 2011 reunion, they were slightly more animated, but still didn't spend much time engaging with the audience. I did enjoy the show.

- I saw the New Cars with Todd Rundgren a few times during their short career. That was an example of how the music could be delivered in a more audience-friendly package. Based on all the above points, my conclusion is that the robotic stage presentation was mostly Ric Ocasek's idea.

- re. the pot smoking... that was de rigueur in those '70s days. Part of the arena rock concert experience included smoking pot, at least for us at that time. You didn't know enough then to expect it, but you might have expected it.

 

I had just turned 18 in the fall of '79. A couple of months earlier it was actually easier for (17 year old) to get pot than to get hands on some beer.

 

From the live stuff I've seen and heard in their late 1970s prime they seemed like a tight live band and that's really what I care about most. It's just not the kind of band that I'd picture jumping around.

I remember hearing the drummer David Robinson was really sick during Musikladen and the performance still holds up.