carsfan's setlist.fm

Hey Keith, i understand that, i love the cars, I wouldnt mind though if there wasnt much movement, i would be starstruck still by the music, i see you mentioned video taping the 1980 show, could you share it if you dont mind? If you cant or dont want to its fine, im 16 trying to find unreleased footage of the cars in 1980, i love the song you wear those eyes and would love to see footage of it live.

Thanks for asking about Wollman Rink cars show...THE MOST JAM PACKED of the 100 shows I saw there. A great night. Sadly, I just kept notes of songs played back then. It was about 8 years before I began recording. BENNY

Hi Dave,

In response to your message, "I see you were at the Aug. 29, 1984 Cars show in Los Angeles. I'm a big fan of The Cars and I have to ask if you know this setlist because you recorded it?" I just wanted to let you know that I did not. I was 15 years old at the time and that was my first concert. I don't think they allowed camcorders or tape recorders in at that show.

That '82 San Diego Cars show was the first time I ever had really good seats to a concert. I worked at a record store and got comps from the promoter. I had no idea what a difference it makes to be able to watch a musician's fingers or make eye contact with them. That was the show that really turned me into a concert fanatic.

I agree with your comment about how The Cars are like The Beatles. I didn't mean to diss your all-time favourite band! I think they were one of the best bands around - in the studio.

I still live in San Diego and I tape most shows I go to. I have more than 1,000 analog and digital tapes that need to be digitized and tracked. I'll be at The Damned for sure. Maybe we can meet there. Or, what is your email?

The 1979 show was my first concert ever, and I didn't tape it. The 1980 show was the first show I ever taped, and it came out HORRIBLE (on a scale of 1-10, it's the only "3" in my collection). I used a really cruddy tape recorder, because it was all I had.

I saw four other Cars shows. One was US Festival, which I didn't tape, but that show is in easy to find. The other three are not on my tape list for some reason. I need to get to my tapes to look for those three, but they are not accessible right now.

I'm curious what you thought of them as a live band.

I thought The Cars were one the worst live bands around, even though they were my favourite band for years. In concert, I thought the songs all sounded exactly the same as the records, and you were lucky if you heard one or two new songs. They almost never talked to the audience, except to say "hi" or "thank you." There was almost no jamming, and no covers (although I know they did covers occasionally, I never saw any).

You can probably tell how much I love live music. Even bands I don't like on record, I can often appreciate them as a live act. The Cars were always the opposite for me. At first I didn't know any better. Eventually, I kept seeing them hoping they would surprise me, but they never did. Unfortunately, I missed the reunion tour.