The surviving members of The Cars — singer/keyboardist Ric Ocasek, guitarist Elliot Easton, drummer David Robinson and keyboardist Greg Hawkes, who also is filling in on bass for the late Benjamin Orr — kicked off their reunion tour in Seattle last night, performing their first concert in nearly a quarter century.
You can check out the full setlist below, courtesy of Seattle Weekly. The band played 19 songs, including a few from their just-released comeback album Move Like This, plus classics such as “Good Times Roll, “Just What I Needed,” “Let’s Go” and “You Might Think” — and two takes of “Moving in Stereo,” after flubbing the first try.
Fan-shot video’s starting to trickle in from Seattle’s Showbox theater, and it’s a bit rough. But above, you can watch the band perform “Just What I Needed,” and below, you can see clips of “Moving in Stereo” (the second try), “My Best Friend’s Girl,” “Touch and Go” and “Good Times Roll.” We’ll post more as it surfaces on YouTube.
And if you were at the show, please let us know how it was in the comments below. The tour resumes Thursday in Los Angeles. You can see full dates here, and, if you haven’t heard it yet, you can stream Move Like This in its entirety right here.
See more live footage of The Cars after the jump…
Setlist: The Cars, Showbox, Seattle, WA 5/10/11
1. “Good Times Roll”
2. “Blue Tip”
3. “Since You’re Gone”
4. “Up and Down”
5. “My Best Friend’s Girl”
6. ???
7. “Touch and Go”
8. “I’m in Touch With Your World”
9. “Keep on Knocking”
10. “You Might Think”
11. “Drag on Forever”
12. “Free”
13. “I’m Not the One”
14. “Heartbeat City”
15. “Let’s Go”
16. “Moving in Stereo”
17. “Moving in Stereo” (Repeated)
18. “Sad Song”
19. “Just What I Needed”
The Cars, “Moving in Stereo” (Take 2); Showbox, Seattle, WA 5/10/11
The Cars, “Touch and Go”; Showbox, Seattle, WA 5/10/11
The Cars, “My Best Friend’s Girl”; Showbox, Seattle, WA 5/10/11
The Cars, “Good Times Roll”; Showbox, Seattle, WA 5/10/11
PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS
- Full-album stream: The Cars, ‘Move Like This’
- The Cars announce 10-date reunion tour; first trek in nearly 25 years
- Video: The Cars, ‘Blue Tip’ — first single off May’s ‘Move Like This’ reunion album
- The Cars reveal cover art for ‘Move Like This,’ first new album in 24 years
- The Cars post clip of ‘Sad Song,’ reunited band’s second new track in 23 years
- The Cars debut clip of ‘Blue Tip,’ first new song since 1987, on Facebook
- The Cars in the studio, mum on possible first reunion since 1987
I saw the show last night. Was pretty damn epic to see the actual, real cars (minus )Ben Orr play. The smallish venue at Showbox Sodo was jam packed to the gills and everyone was legitimately happy and let their faces show it too. A beautiful sunny pacific northwest evening with music legends… What could be better. Well, here’s my offering. 1. They played a great sampling of all records (except Door to Door). They opened with three classics and their forth song was Blue Tip. The first few measures into the first song you could see/hear the drummer David Robinson struggling with playing along (to the bass sequencer track). So, every so often you could pick up a little “whoa, is the drummer f’ing up?” but, it didn’t affect the overall performance or mood of the room. Unbelievably they played some epic classics from my personal favorite ‘Panorama’ and even more unbelievable they played “I’m in touch with your world” (yes, you read that right). When they got to the “big fat macaroni” line, everyone shouted the lyrics too (lotsa fun!).
Sonically, they sounded a bit muddled with the use of the bass sequencer. This wasn’t really noticeable until Greg Hawkes played bass. Then, you were like, “THAT’S the punchy, clear bass line which made the cars sound so full & dynamic.” but, conversely, I applaud them for not hiring some young, Johnny come lately to play Bens parts. Personally though, I wouldnt blame them. After hearing how much better it sounds when they had a live bass, it made me wish they had more. Speaking of the Ben Orr void, his vocals were missing on a few classics where you knew that Greg & Eliot just couldn’t quite handle that heavy load & giant void left by one of the best, under appreciated vocalists/ bass players in rock music. But, they made no bones about it and Greg mentioned a very sweet segment to how they all missed Ben. The crowd loved it. Greg was 5 stars last night.
Mr Eliot Easton was awesome as expected. He missed a few note strokes but you wouldnt have noticed because every time he played a solo, no matter how large, the place went nuts. Eliot has a huge fan base & let him know it. I loved it. Every time he would solo “rahhhhhhhggggg!!!” the crowd went nuts. He looked like he was genuinely happy and excited to be on stage. Ric was Ric. Everyone around us all said the same ” Ric is so cool.” he looks like time & age passed him by unaffected. His vocals were spot on. I mean, spot on. Sounded just like the records. He looks & sounds so cool with his two old Gibson SGs and his slow-hand bar chords. Not enough coolness can be said by how well he played, sounded, looked. He was very gracious & friendly to the crowd. He did drop the F-bomb on the place tho:
Here’s why: the drummer was sluggish, struggled and seems a bit over his ski’s at times. I am not sure if he was having a hard time with is headphones trying to find the click track or the bass sequencer (which he was no doubt playing along to). I just kept wishing he was playing a real acoustic drum kit and not an overly triggered & sampled electronic drum kit. Admittedly, this was the first time they played a live concert in nearly 24 years but as a fellow drummer, you could just sense that there was an issue with Davidson playing last night. So, now that I’ve mentioned that. This deviation in drums to the sequence track completely (and I mean completely) derailed last night during “moving in stereo.” it was a collapse in epic proportions. The keyboard was playing to the bass track/sequence, Ric was trying to follow that while Eliot (being closer to the drummer) was trying to play with the drums. For some unknown reason, David tried to remove his heads phones while playing and just started playing to no one in particular. Those headphones were his cue to play along with the bass track but he decided he was just going to play it by ear. It was aweful. But, they didn’t panic, freak or act like amateurs. Nope, they straightened out their gear, chatted with each other briefly and Ric walked up to the mic and said “why don’t we try playing that f’ing song again.” again, the crowd went nuts. These fans were happy and excited to see the cars. I mean, the Cars! When they finished the song (the second time) the place again went nuts! That song, more than any of them, truly & legitimately needed Ben Orr. Not only for his milky smooth vocals but for that punchy, sporadic bass line. But gain, it was the cars! It was awesome and we all loved it. They came out for an encore, crowd went nuts. Even after their encore, people didn’t start to leave for another 10-20 minutes. Even when roadies were unplugging monitors & taking guitars off the stage, we all just hoped, hope on hope that they would come back out and play another few songs.
Aside from the apparent need for a live bass sound on stage and the giant void left by Ben Orr, they sounded wonderful. I can finally say “I saw the Cars.” not only that but their first show in nearly a quarter century. Oh, the new album is great too.
Highlights- in touch with your world, up and down, let’s go & Blue Tip, moving in stereo PT 2, Greg hawkes.
Great time & a wonderful night.
they sound and look awesome! totally bummed i couldn’t get tickets to the DC show. it sold out in under a minute. i’ll bet ben is smiling where ever he’s at.
I was lucky enough to be there last night. It was beyond amazing. Never thought I would be able to see most of these songs performed live. The crowd was really into it and singing along to all the hits.
Setlist (stolen from a Seattle Weekly blog:
Good Times Roll
Blue Tip
Since You’re Gone
Up and Down
My Best Friend’s Girl
???
Touch and Go
I’m in Touch With Your World
Keep on Knocking
You Might Think
Drag on Forever
Free
I’m Not the One
Heartbeat City
Let’s Go
Moving in Stereo
Moving in Stereo
Encore:
Sad Song
Just What I Needed
Let’s start off with, I am a HUGE Cars fan. Back in high school, they were my band. I collected everything of theirs I could get my hands on. I got every solo project and b-side. You want Cars pins, shirts, videos, promotional posters? I had em. What I didn’t get to do is see them on their Heartbeat City tour. I tried to catch them on the Door To Door but they broke up during the tour so I was out a concert and a ticket master charge (only $5 back then).
So, when I found out they were touring, I gladly paid the $48 + rip-off charge to go. I was disappointed.
Keep in mind this is all from memory so I’ll do my best to stick as close to reality as possible.
The show was suppose to start at 8:00 but they were a little late (8:20). It happens. As you read from the story above, they played 4 of their new songs. Keep in mind that I think only two of them were released as videos. Since the new album wasn’t released until the day of their first tour date, which was the one I was at, I didn’t even have a chance to get to know them.
They played some hits and some b-sides that I was a little puzzled about. Could just be my taste in the b’s but “I’m in touch with your World”, “Touch and Go”, and “Heartbeat City” aren’t the ones I would have chosen off their album. I mean, Heartbeat City had 5 videos made and Heartbeat City wasn’t one of them.
Also mentioned above was that they flubbed “Moving in Stereo”. They did play it again but when they quit at 9:47 (including a encore break), I felt a little cheated. That is not even 1.5 hours and even less if you consider they did the same song twice so their setlist must have been even shorter. If not, they just said, “We gave you your X amount of songs. We’re done. Good night”. Most of the audience members seemed just as stunned as I was. People didn’t really clear out until the roadies really started to pack up.
I’ve heard that The Cars don’t move around much on stage. I’d have to concur. Elliot and Greg did most of the movement. Ric just seemed to be going through the motions and not the Emotion in Motions. ;-) David, well, he was behind a drum kit so what do ya want. Speaking of Elliot, he didn’t look so good. I know the guys are probably in their 60’s but it looks like it’s been a hard 60.
If I had to make the setlist, I would have told them to play the two new songs they released, play most of the hits, and give us two hours. It’s been around 25 years since they played live (Well, 87’s Door to Door was a partial tour so…), give us a “We’re back. Did ya miss us?” experience.
I liked the new songs and I probably would have purchased that CD, but now, I just feel like I’ve already given them enough of my cash.
Thanks, Eric. Hadn’t seen the full setlist yet. Grabbing it from the Seattle Weekly now…
Without Ben Orr their is no Cars……
So I guess they didn’t play any NEW Cars?