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Review by SueW:
Someone remarked recently that I don't write reviews of the concerts - I write essays! So here is my essay of the Phoenix concert....!

The Dodge Theatre in downtown Phoenix is a really modern building and all the seats were well laid out so everyone must have had a good view of the stage. This venue can hold 1,900 to 5,000 fans for concerts but I'm not sure how many it was set up to hold tonight. It certainly wasn't sold out but there weren't too many free seats (my guess would be maybe 80% full). Tickets for this concert were the most expensive of the tour with the highest non-package seats costing $157.75 including all charges. The cheapest seats were $45 plus they had the VIP packages so there was a Meet and Greet before the concert.

This venue also held an online auction for 10 sets of two seats in the Pit (there are 148 seats in the pit). The opening bid was $160 a seat (so only slightly more than the regular price) but only one set was sold and that was for the opening bid. Consequently more seats in the pit went for sale at the regular price so it meant that fans who bought their tickets as soon as they went on sale back in March, were behind those that only bought recently. Just this morning TicketMaster.com were selling two seats in the third row. When I got to the venue there were several scalpers outside (the first time I've seen that on this tour). As I had a spare ticket I asked one if he was interested in buying it and he made a face and said that he doubted that he would even sell those he already had! My seat was in the front row and the two lots of two seats either side of me were empty (which doesn't mean that they weren't sold though).

As usual Blondie played their same set as they have all the tour. Deborah Harry wears similar clothes at each concert and they're obviously designed so that when the lighting is a certain way, her jumper is lit up. They had the same backdrop again but I noticed that they didn't light it up like a city scene as they did in Tunica. Blondie received a good reception and there were obviously quite a few fans who were there specifically to see her. Lots of people at the front stood during all her set but I noticed that not as many stood as during The New Cars, certainly in my row quite a few people remained seated. I hurt my foot in Dallas so it hurts to stand for more than a few minutes so I stayed seated and I saw quite a few people further along didn't get up until their encore.

I've read a couple of (professional) reviews which said that Blondie's background singers sang flat. I certainly didn't hear that but I do think they could increase the volume of the background vocals more....or maybe Deborah Harry's voice isn't strong enough for that???? She does have a nice knack of singing directly to certain people and you can see that they like that!

During the intermission they closed the curtain and when I came back into the room the microphone stands were already set up and they were right on the front of the stage (outside the curtain). Thankfully The New Cars were back to playing their full set tonight and their section lasted about an hour and 20 minutes.

Being a theatre, they'd checked our bags as we entered the venue but they allowed photos as long as we didn't use flash. I'm afraid that I didn't take any as I was struggling to enjoy it with my foot hurting without having the distraction of taking photos too! Thankfully Jen Schiffbauer has taken some brilliant ones which are on this page and in the Photo section of KasimInfo.com. However security in my section were very strict about not letting anyone who wasn't seated in the front row come down the front. The couple next to me left during the encore (presumably to get out of the one car park there fast) and a person climbed over from the second row and he made him return!

Todd was word perfect again (as he has been ever since the first concert). At one point Kasim had to shout to get the words in his microphone at one part when he was singing background vocals because he'd wandered off around the stage again! However there was one "unusual" start to one of the first songs in the set (possibly Let's Go) which I think was due to Prairie starting the wrong song (but I could be totally wrong here and doing Prairie a big injustice). Whatever happened it was quickly rectified and made all the band laugh!

Kasim is definitely winning the "best dressed band member" award on this tour! In fact tonight he won the "only outfit which you could wear in a street" award too! He was nattily dressed (as you can see from the photos) in his smart almost-plaid jacket, white shirt (which has small designs on it) and black trousers. Todd was wearing brightly coloured trousers and jacket, neither of which matched! Prairie always wears quirky clothes and both Elliot Easton and Greg Hawkes are wearing definite suitable-for-stage-only clothes.

As I have The New Cars CD, I'm getting used to the songs now and they are playing them really well (better than on the CD IMHO). Kasim's performances in Drive and All Mixed Up seeming to be getting stronger and more confident each show! I used to prefer Drive but I think All Mixed Up actually suits his voice better (it reminds me of a song like Bully or Somebody Loves You which he chooses to sing at his solo shows).

There were a few funny moments tonight on stage. For example during Elliot's looooooong guitar solo in one song, tonight Todd went and stood beside Greg Hawkes on his keyboard podium. As Kasim was standing in front of the podium, Todd then rested his leg over Kasim's shoulder! Later Todd played the keyboards briefly with his nose.

Todd is beginning to chat more during some of the songs than he did at the first couple of concerts - tonight he thanked us all for missing American Idol to come to the concert!

A few times during the set Kasim and Elliot will share a microphone and near the end tonight they were singing together and put their arms around each other's shoulders! They swapped microphones during Hello Again.

I suppose I'd taken Kasim's stage presence for granted and it's only since I've seen the bass player from Blondie's band that I've realised how charismatic Kasim really is on stage. He goes out of his way to connect with people when he's on stage and he'll often throw guitar pics (Blondie's bass player didn't even use a pic!). He also always picks someone to sing "Let the good times roll" at the end of the set! Often it'll be a child but tonight it was a pretty girl.

Roll on Las Vegas on Friday!!!

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Many thanks to Jen Schiffbauer for all the photos on this page. Please do use any of them on any other website without permission.

The New Cars Road Rage Tour