Click here for some great photos of this gig by Michele Kotlarsky.

Review by John:
Concert day was a beautiful Cleveland day @ 70 and mostly sunny

Typical Cleveland weather it rained partway through Blondie and beginning of TNC and got cooler, so jackets were needed

As you know Cleveland is a huge music town, has the RRHOF, and loves Blondie, the Cars (old and new). The catchphrase here is "Todd is Godd", 'nuff said.

We were seated at the start of Blondie, and like most people, were there mainly because of the Todd-factor.

I would estimate the crowd to be about 5,000, a bit disappointing as Blossom holds @19,000. Upside: it was easy to get in and easy to get out. Main problem was they did not take advantage of mentioning the Todd was part of TNC in the radio announcements they made the few weeks before the concert. I think that would have added another thousand or three.

Debby Harry didn't immediately win us over, and in typical male fashion we were critical of her 'lime green' outfit. Ken said "Perhaps green is not her color". Followed by another who said "It isn't easy being green".

Deciding that she must be at least as old as us and probably older, we decided that she was indeed in pretty decent shape.

But, back to the music.....Blondie was very tight (meaning good) musically, and Debra's voice was in great shape. There was an obvious following there to see them, including the two gay guys who danced, clapped, and hugged along with each song.

Some highlight songs were 'Rapture', a Roxy Music song "More Than This", and the Stones "Paint it Black". Everyone agreed that "wow, they had a lot of good songs."

OKAY, OKAY onto the main story:

First off I will say that Kasim did look very manly and handsome, and well appointed in his black jacket, pants, and dark printed shirt. Fans would not have been disappointed, but I doubt that you ever could with Kasim.

BUT, in my humble opinion, Todd won the best-dressed award for this outing. He was resplendant in White Jacket, Black Jeans, and Print shirt. He looked and acted like the new leader of The New Cars.

TNC sounded excellent, obviously having played so many times now, they are really hitting their stride together. No obvious glitches, though someone in my party thought Greg's keyboard work got lost in the sound mix too often.

Kasim, of course, laid down the bass beat from which everything else exploded, with the cool demeanor of the bass-virtuoso he is. He played to the audience near him and smiled and moved around alot, crossing the stage a number of times.

Todd sang his heart out, like he always does in front of a Cleveland audience. Of course the crowd roared its approval and enjoyed his solo stuff. My only regret was his choice of guitars for Black Maria - it did not have the right sound for the great guitar work in that song. His choice of the Nazz classic Open My Eyes just blew us all away! By then he had his 'Utopia' guitar and it was great!

Now, Elliot Easton.....that dude can play guitar!! OMG, I had no idea he could play like that. I would say that he is in the top ten of great guitarist's....it is a shame that he does not get that recognition.

The set list was the same in order you've posted, so they don't stray from what they think is working. And it is working. I think everybody really thought it was a great concert and those that missed it really missed a gem of a show!

Personally, I would can "Bang the Drum" and add a different Todd tune. There are so many better to choose from....

Prairie Prince was.....well very Prairie, he can beat the skins as good as any. No wonder Todd and Kasim love to work with him!

Todd and Elliot jammed out on a few songs, playing guitar side by side and really playing off each other well. If you love guitar work, you witnessed two of the best.

On one song, Todd stood up next to Greg while letting Elliot command the stage with his blazing guitar work.

I would say that these guys are really enjoying being together and playing. Some die hard Todd fans may think Todd is goofing or selling-out but I see it as just another one of his career twist and turns. He is getting to play as a headliner and getting lots of exposure.

One of my thoughts is that the whole thing looked and sounded like Utopia doing Cars songs. And maybe, just maybe, Todd and Kasim are thinking that next year they revive Utopia for its own reunion tour. Now THAT is what we would all like to see!!!!

Review of the soundcheck by Kathy:
The other neat thing about the Meet and Greet was that we got to watch the soundcheck. They did two songs: "Not Tonight" and "All Mixed Up." (a Kasim song, as if you didn't know that :))) At one point Kasim was talking to someone named Redford about getting the sound adjusted right. He said "Maybe bump it to one-five.. It's a little ducky.. I sound like Donald Duck"! Adjustments were made and then his voice did sound better coming through the system, and he said something like "What did I tell you - one-five. I always worry when the musicians start guessing the percentages."

After they did the 2 songs, Elliott (I think - we were a long way off) and that crew member Charlie that worked for Meat were both on guitars and Greg Hawkes (the keyboard player) was on ukelele, and the three of them did "Bang on the Drum All Day."

Review by Michele Kotlarsky:
I had seen a tour bus pull into our hotel about 10am but thought nothing of it, since there was only one bus. On our way out the door to get some dinner, I ran into PP in the lobby along with the rest of the band minus Todd getting onto the bus heading out for sound check.

I went to this concert all alone row 3. Rows 1 and 2 were all Blondie fans who indicated they would be leaving after Blondie leaving them empty. The minute Blondie came out it was standing room only. During Blondie’s encore, people from seats behind ours were standing in front of the stage. My friends and I decided that we would get closer ourselves. We were dead center of TR’s mic. We were confronted by some meet and greet participants who were so drunk and disorderly we should have called security on them. One of them spilled a whole cup of beer down my leg. The things we do for Todd....

The concert was much better than I had expected, with the band members walking back and forth playing with each other, lots of activity and movement on the stage, never a dull moment. Open My Eyes had to be the highlight of the evening for me. Todd is really giving it his all this tour, he looks great, and his voice is strong and he didn’t miss a word. I don’t know how he got his hair so white without frying it but his hair is in good condition and for the girls, he was wearing a white linen blazer, black pants, black dress shoes, with that black and white, flower print shirt he was stylin! His hair looked great with the white and black outfit. I was able to get the lei to him with the little cars and working traffic light on it. Elliott still seemed a little ‘stiff’ not moving much but Greg is definitely a NEW Car. He was all over the place on his pod. It was a treat to hear Kasim singing part of All Mixed Up he did a fine job. Bang on the Drum was interesting, since Prairie was the only one playing a drum, and Greg was on the Uke. I lei’d Todd anyways. If TR is really rhythm guitar this tour you could have fooled me, his heart and soul was in every lick, and his facial expressions showed it. Elliott is a great guitarist I had no idea, but TR was the lead from what I could see he just rocked. It appears one of Prairie’s drumsticks was heading my way you can faintly see it in one of the photos, I put my camera down to catch it after taking the photo but being there alone it was hard to catch it but I love the photo!

Todd had mentioned that they are the New Cars the band had an OS upgrade they are now XP. (Come on Todd you know an upgrade would be OSX tee hee hee).

Back stage Elliott came out for awhile to meet with fans, then Kasim handing out bottles of water, along with Greg and Prairie. Todd had already left the building. I gave PP his new outfit that Rachel had made for him and chatted with Greg and it was nice to see Judy again.

This is definitely a see more than once show. See you at DTE.

Review by Mike Shell:
WOW!!!! What a fantastic show!!! I went to the Blossom show June 4th with my wife and son and sat in the 14th row center. From the opening sounds of "Hello Again" to the farewell waves and bows of the New Cars, the crowd never sat down. The pavilion was almost full, thanks in part to a rain storm which hit during Blondie's set and forced the lawn crowd scrambling into the pavilion. I would estimate the crowd between 6 to 8 thousand.

Blondie was better than I expected, but I would go for a Kasim solo opening act in place of Blondie!

The New Cars sounded tight and you could tell they were all having fun from beginning to end. Todd and Kasim were constantly smiling and laughing. Kasim sounded great during "All Mixed Up" and "Drive" and the crowd responded well to both tunes.

I really enjoyed the Liars tour a few years ago but I have to say this show may be one of my all time favorites! I only hope the crowds continue to improve and the reviews continue to rave on this new edition of the Cars-I would love to see them again!!!

Comments about this gig posted on messageboards and mailing lists include:

Pre concert press
FreeTimes.com had a good pre-concert interview with Todd Rundgren here by Jeff Niesel. The interview was conducted at the beginning of the tour and includes the following quotes:

"Todd's backed by original Cars guitarist Elliot Easton, former Utopia bassist Kasim Sulton and former Tubes drummer Prairie Prince."[And Greg Hawkes!]

"The four living members were in discussions for awhile. Ric Ocasek and David Robinson weren't into the radical change in lifestyle. The next logical thing was to find somebody else to front the group. I got a call from Elliot, and we just played together to see what it sounded like. We got together last August in a rehearsal space in Burbank. It sounded pretty convincing. We decided to continue on and lo and behold, here we are."

"I know that some people were expecting something else. There was idle chatter about a Utopia reunion. That wouldn't have lasted very long anyway. It never became a serious consideration with us for non-musical issues. I still would have had to find a gig. I wasn't going to turn it down because there might have been a Utopia thing."

"Did you ever see the original Cars back in the day?
We played together once at Nelson Ledges with Cheap Trick. That was a lot of fun. I think we played the World Series of Rock with them, too. Elliot played on an album that I produced in the late '80s by Jules Shear."

Cleveland.com (The Plain Dealer) also had an interview from a couple of weeks ago with Todd Rundgren (the link is here) in pre-concert press. Comments in this article include:

""If you compared the two bands live next to each other, this band would kick the old Cars' [expletive]," Rundgren fearlessly declared by phone last week from a tour stop in San Francisco."

"Rounding out The New Cars are Rundgren's longtime rhythm section of Kasim Sulton (bass) and Prairie Prince (drums), who also has played with The Tubes."

"On tour with Blondie, The New Cars have the blessing of Ocasek and former Cars drummer David Robinson. "The bottom line is, going back out on the road would not satisfy some deep-seated desire for them," said Rundgren, 57."

"The Cars and Rundgren often crossed paths on the road. Easton and Rundgren went on to work together on various studio projects. "When we started discussing this, it wasn't like I was talking to complete strangers," Rundgren said. "The first thing we did was play together, to see if it was believable at all. It came together fairly easily.""

""I really don't have a problem with joining another band and doing material that isn't all my own," Rundgren said. "There are practical aspects from an economic standpoint, too. . . . The scale and scope of this allow us to be able to guarantee everyone in the band a reasonable amount of income.""

""Kasim and Prairie are the rhythm section I've worked with the most consistently over the past 20 to 30 years, so this is more like two bands coming together, as opposed to one guy stepping in for the frontman. It made it a lot easier for us to merge the musical personalities.""

Many thanks to Michele Kotlarsky for the photo from stage right and the other kind person for the photo from stage left on this page.

The New Cars Road Rage Tour