Post #236434 by ikitnrev on Tue, Jun 6, 2006 10:29 PM

Well, at least they call the band 'the New Cars'

I just came back from the Blondie/ New Cars show, held at the Wolf Trap Pavilon in Virginia. I had never seen either band before, so thought this was my chance to hear some of the bigger radio hits from my college days. I'm always kind of wary of shows at these bigger outdoor pavilions, preferring the smaller clubs, but I felt I got my moneys worth tonight.

Believe it or not, the New Cars do tiki. For one song, Elliot Easton and Bass player Kasim Sultan brought out a pair of ukuleles, and all 5 band members gathered at the front of the stage - and they play a lively acoustic version of the song where the lyrics go "I Don't want to work, I Just want to Bang the Drum All Day" And while they are doing this, they showed some footage of a guy climbing a palm tree -- and then the imagery switches to a really cool animations of tiki figures banging on tiki drums. Halfway through the song, they switch back to full electric instruments, while the animated tiki figures keep drumming in the background. This excursion was nothing like the rest of the Cars music, but I couldn't help but love it.

Visually, it was a great show. There was a series of perhaps 5 or 7 large circular screens above/behind the band, on which various images (tires spinning, spinner hubcaps spinning, vintage 50's auto show clips, rapid flashing of faces from Gil Elvgren cheesecake drawings)and abstract lighting effects were projected.

The real highlight for me was the song 'Living in Stereo', my all time favorite Cars song, which was accompanied by giant closeups of an early 80's stereo system - the needle dropping onto a LP and tracking along the grooves, overhead shots of the discs spinning around, more closeups of a bass speaker throbbing in and out, more closeups of the central spindle nub. Hearing that music while giant LPs rotated above the band was memorizing. It was all very hypnotizing, and a great homage to an era of audio that was likely quite nostalgic for many in the crowd, who have likely got rid of their vinyl and replaced them with CDs. It was one of those moments that I will likely remember for a very long time.

Original Cars guitarist Elliot Easton was there, and received added attention from the crowd. He had fractured his clavicle the day before in a bus accident, falling out of his bunk when the bus swerved to miss another vehicle. Apparantly Easton told the doctor "I've been waiting for this tour for 17 years, I'm not missing any shows." He was wearing some form of harness/strap under his jacket, but it did not appear to affect his playing. On one of the Cars bigger hits, I can't remember which, he did an extended guitar solo that I am sure stretched on much longer than usual, while the others respectfully played along at one side of the stage.

The opening act was Blondie - Deborah Harry reminded me a bit of Nancy Sinatra who I saw a couple of years ago - two beautiful, blonde singers who are still singing and moving around on stage, even both are over 60. All of the Blondie hits were performed, and for their encore they did a version of 'Painted Black' to honor the 666 day (June 6, 2006)

So, all in all, it was a memorable evening.

Vern