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The Cars

Rock

The Cars Tickets

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About

The Cars are virtuously synonymous with '80s new wave -- from their debut in 1978 with "Just What I Needed" until their breakup in 1988, they ruled the pop rock airwaves with a string of decade-defining hits. To this day, their most popular song "Drive," with its eerie vocals by the late Benjamin Orr, is the quintessential paean to teenage dysfunctional love. When the surviving Cars members – Ric Ocasek, Elliot Easton, Greg Hawkes and David Robinson – reunited for a world tour in 2011, the tickets sold out immediately. Their concert performance supporting their last album, "Move Like This," which came in at No. 2 on the charts, genuinely recreated the energy of a bouncier decade and introduced their signature sound to a new generation obsessed with bubblegum pop and neon. Ocasek was at his android-perfection best, delivering the sound the fans needed without the bizarre experimentation with classics that many concerts produce. The audience went wild with each precise recreation of radio-edit guitar solos.

In addition to generating the original musical genre of rockabilly meets synth, The Cars built themselves into cultural icons through their videos and "larger than cable tv" pesonalities. They pioneered the use of creative video on MTV with the bizarre "You Might Think," capturing Video of the Year at MTV's first music awards show. When lead singer Ric Ocasek married 19-year-old supermodel and video vixen Paulina Porizkova in 1984, it heralded the rise of Geek Power in popular culture that paved the way for “Harry Potter” and “Community.” Ocasek has capitalized on his legacy and resurgent popularity over the past few years by becoming a recurring guest on "The Colbert Report." After their latest album, 2011's "Move Like This," the band has move on to producing the next generation of artists in their wake. Quirky, energetic and oddly optimistic, the music of The Cars drove straight into the world of pop and shook it up for good.

Reviews

Rating: 3.9 out of 5 based on 172 reviews
  • Rating: 5 out of 5

    The Cars, a dream made true

    by PatoNardo on 5/31/11Roseland Ballroom - New York

    I flown 8000 kms just to see them twice, they where incredible!!

  • Rating: 5 out of 5

    The Cars won first place!!!!!!!!!!!

    by Charcars on 5/30/11The Electric Factory - Philadelphia

    The Cars were excellent!! It was so exciting to see them all on stage again for the first time all together (minus our Ben Orr) since 1986!!! They still have it together, and rock after all these years!! Everyone in the concert house was so happy to see them!! I watched the crowd and every person I looked at had a smile on their face or they were singing along to the songs!! The vibe of the crowd was great, and the commraderie of the audience and fans was awesome!! You could feel it in the air!! Everyone was taken back to their youth, and it made eveyone feel great!! I hope the band will do another tour one day!! And Guys, you still don't have to say much to the audience to get them reved up after all these years!!

  • Rating: 5 out of 5

    great show

    by Bobbyboy60 on 5/30/11Roseland Ballroom - New York

    The show by the cars was a dream come true, even without ben Orr. The new album is great.

  • Rating: 5 out of 5

    The Cars rocked!

    by pilotbob3 on 5/30/11Roseland Ballroom - New York

    So many hits! Great show! New songs are great as well!

  • Rating: 2 out of 5

    Meh

    by Vorago on 5/29/11Roseland Ballroom - New York

    Even though I absolutely love the Cars and enjoy hearing the music, the show was flat and uninspired. I would have been happier listening to their albums and enjoying a beer in a bar. The crowd was a bunch of obnoxious, entitled, rich baby boomers who don't know how to behave at a concert (not a hockey match, fellas) and the sound quality was horrendous. No bass on stage, and the drum set was a digital kit. Bleah. What a letdown.

  • Rating: 1 out of 5

    The Cars are parked

    by Anonymous on 5/29/11Fox Theater - Oakland - Oakland

    I was so looking forward to this nostalgic band's concert, they were one of my favorites in high school! They came out 20 minutes late, played alternating old and new songs for 1 hour and 15 minutes, never acknowledging or engaging the audience, then said "good night"...really? Why bother...

  • Rating: 4 out of 5

    The best damn show ever!!!!

    by Macmoincanta on 5/28/11Roseland Ballroom - New York

    Ric and the band sounded, looked and attitudes were exactly like they were 30 years ago! Their new songs, which I was weary about, were freaking AWESOME!!!! They didn't try to change their iconic sound or auto-tune. Ric Ocasek is still the epitome of cool. Granted the crowd was mostly people who could be my parents if they were fat and had mullets, but the Cars were worth the decade gap. I bought their new album right after the show and bought the Tawny t-shirt. You must see this show!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (I would use more exclamation marks, but it already started to annoy me how many I used.)

  • Rating: 4 out of 5

    the cars

    by tuggy2 on 5/28/11Roseland Ballroom - New York

    sounded great but very lackluster show they didnt talk to the audience and try to mingle with the crowd just played and left but in the end they do sound good rick just stood there and played like a statue

  • Rating: 4 out of 5

    Good Show

    by NYCGui on 5/28/11Roseland Ballroom - New York

    Great to see them up on the stage! Didn't think it would ever happen and I thank them all for hitting the road. One of the more important bands of my youth, if not the most important. Knew every single riff like it was ingrained in me. Songs chosen were well done. Only thing I would have done differently would have been to have played more hits -- know this is a common complaint with concerts, but can you really have a show without playing Candy-o? G

  • Rating: 5 out of 5

    Cars Rocked Roseland

    by Princella on 5/28/11Roseland Ballroom - New York

    Fantastic show. Ric Ocasek and the Cars put on a Dynamite show full of old favorites and new soon to be hits. Eliott Easton was Dead on it. The place was packed and everyone was SCREAMING their heads off including me. I had such a Great time. The Cars are alot of Fun and have never changed their sound. Highly Recommended.

  • Rating: 4 out of 5

    Great show with a small technical problem.

    by pavelito on 5/27/11Roseland Ballroom - New York

    As we all know all Cars hits are 3-4 minutes long. That is why the show was only 1 hour 25 minutes long. I really enjoyed the show except i believe during two songs the speakers were too loud and because of that instead of musical instruments i heard just one dull noise. Luckily that was the case only during those two songs. The rest of the show was pretty amazing considering that all members of the Cars are almost 60.

  • Rating: 5 out of 5

    The Cars! Do not miss this one

    by jockdeboer on 5/27/11Roseland Ballroom - New York

    or you will be kicking yourself in the ass for the next 25 years. No opening band - perfect! 18 songs - beautiful. The new songs sound like keepers. Missed Ben but the new guy was pretty good. Ric and the guys were amazing and it was the best I have been too. Better than the old U2 and the recent Police concert.

  • Rating: 5 out of 5

    The Cars Are Still Rollin!

    by njrockman on 5/27/11Roseland Ballroom - New York

    Great show. Simplistic backdrop. Sound fantastic after all these years. The new material sounded so bright!

  • Rating: 4 out of 5

    Very good, but not long enough!

    by cheese46 on 5/27/11Roseland Ballroom - New York

    The music was very tight, lots of good classics mixed with some new ones. However, almost no interaction with the audience, even names of the new songs most people were probably unfamilar with. A little short too, just under 90 minutes total, the audience definitely left wanting more!

  • Rating: 5 out of 5

    The Cars at the Roseland Ballroom

    by GirlFromIpanema on 5/27/11Roseland Ballroom - New York

    The Cars were incredible (but they always were!). I never realized when I was younger what an amazing guitarist Elliott Easton is. I tried not to think about the fact that Ben Orr was missing but some songs were just meant to be sung by him! It was nice to be so close to the stage and see them up close (especially when they smiled at the audience) but being in the general admission area at Roseland was madness!! We should have spent more money for VIP tickets and sat down. Also, they should have played a little longer and more of their old songs.

  • Rating: 5 out of 5

    by roy33 on 5/27/11Roseland Ballroom - New York

    the best they were really great.great show fantastic

  • Rating: 5 out of 5

    The Cars was a show for the ages!

    by NuReality on 5/27/11Roseland Ballroom - New York

    26 years since they last played, so I never saw them before. They looked and sounded like they stepped out of a time capsule... Sharp as ever. Their performance was stoic, as The Cars are known to be... they don't move around much, or go crazy on stage, they just get up and play. They played an incredibly tight set, with all the greatest hits interspersed with tracks from the new album. If you have a chance to see it... Let's GO!

  • Rating: 5 out of 5

    The Cars @ Roseland Ballroom NYC 5/25/11

    by tomdib on 5/27/11Roseland Ballroom - New York

    The Cars are BACK! Let's hope it's for more than just this 10 show tour. The new CD is CLASSIC Cars. Most people forget how many great songs The Cars have. Not just the songs on the Greatest Hits CD, radio played many more than those.

  • Rating: 5 out of 5

    The Cars Rocked

    by Lasheef on 5/27/11Roseland Ballroom - New York

    Killer Show... Could have been a bit longer.... Like a 1/2 hour more time to get a few more hits, but overall was a Killer Show...

  • Rating: 5 out of 5

    A very special evening with The Cars

    by carshagify on 5/27/11Roseland Ballroom - New York

    There were so many things that made this special. The Cars -- have not changed. Their spirit, their musicianship, their creativity -- all perfect. They played the right tracks, the things everyone loves. The many tributes to Ben were touching and heartfelt. The staging was simple, yet imaginative and effective. The thing that made this most special to me was the opportunity to see them play with my daughter, now 27, who introduced me to The Cars some years ago. She was thrilled because she said she thought she'd never get the chance to see them live. And yet, here we were. There seemed to be some problems with the sound balance in the beginning of the show, that went on a bit. Never mind, it was soon forgotten as everyone grooved with the inimitable Cars sound.