Road Rage Tour

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Road Rage Tour
Tour by The New Cars and Blondie
Associated album
Start dateMay 12, 2006
End dateJuly 1, 2006
Legs1
No. of shows
  • 29 in North America
  • 18 performed
Blondie tour chronology
  • UK Tour
    (2005)
  • Road Rage Tour
    (2006)
  • Asia Tour
    (2006)

The Road Rage Tour was a concert tour co-headlined by The New Cars and Blondie in the North America in 2006.

Background[edit]

The Road Rage Tour was The New Cars' first tour, the first time an incarnation of The Cars has toured in seventeen years. VH-1 Classic sponsored the tour, and commercials were aired frequently on VH-1 and its sister channels to draw attention to the tour.

The tour featured a unique internet promotion. With each online ticket purchase through VH1classic.com or Ticketmaster.com a full album The New Cars and Blondie: Road Rage was offered to free download from eMusic.com. The album included five songs performed by The New Cars (four classic songs of The Cars, recorded live and the newly penned studio track "Not Tonight") and five songs performed by Blondie (four previously unreleased live tracks and one new studio cover of Roxy Music hit "More than This").[1] Currently eMusic offers a shortened version of the album in a form of 4 track EP.[2]

Set[edit]

The New Cars set was reportedly designed by drummer Prairie Prince. It featured large, circular, metallic rings with screens in them suspended above the stage. The rings were meant to resemble a stop light. The drummer sat in a large glowing ring, and the keyboards were elevated behind the center of the stage. The set was concealed when Blondie performed by a large black tarp, meant to resemble the New York City skyline.[3]

Tour cancellation[edit]

On June 5, 2006, the driver of The New Cars' tour bus swerved to avoid a collision with a vehicle, resulting in the New Cars' guitarist Elliot Easton suffering a broken left clavicle.[4] Easton played four more shows despite the injury, but when it became apparent that he needed surgery, the rest of the tour was cancelled. Easton had surgery in New York on June 12.[5][6]

Set list[edit]

Blondie average setlist (data from 5 shows)
  1. "Call Me"
  2. "Dreaming"
  3. "Hanging on the Telephone"
  4. "Accidents Never Happen"
  5. "Atomic"
  6. "Pretty Baby"
  7. "More than This"
  8. "Good Boys"
  9. "Maria"
  10. "The Tide is High"
  11. "Picture This"
  12. "Rifle Range"
  13. "In the Flesh"
  14. "Rapture
  15. "One Way or Another"
  16. "Heart of Glass

Notes

The New Cars average setlist (data from 4 shows)

Tour dates[edit]

Date City Country Venue
North America
May 12, 2006 Robinsonville United States Grand Casino Tunica Event Center
May 13, 2006 Grand Prairie Nokia Theatre
May 17, 2006 Phoenix Dodge Theatre
May 19, 2006 Las Vegas Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts
May 20, 2006 Los Angeles Gibson Amphitheatre
May 23, 2006 Alpine Viejas Casino
May 25, 2006 Saratoga Mountain Winery
May 26, 2006 Reno Reno Events Center
May 27, 2006 Kelseyville Konocti Field Amphitheater
May 30, 2006 Greenwood Village Coors Amphitheatre
June 1, 2006 Hinckley Grand Casino Amphitheatre
June 3, 2006 Highland Park Ravinia Pavilion
June 4, 2006 Cuyahoga Falls Blossom Music Center
June 6, 2006 Vienna Filene Center
June 7, 2006 Boston Bank of America Pavilion
June 9, 2006 Wantagh Jones Beach Music Theater
June 10, 2006 Holmdel PNC Bank Arts Center
June 20, 2006 Buffalo Rockin' at the Knox[A]
Notes
  • A^ This show was Blondie only without The New Cars[9]

Cancelled dates[edit]

Date City Country Venue
North America
June 13, 2006 Orlando United States Hard Rock Live
June 14, 2006 Clearwater Ruth Eckerd Hall
June 15, 2006 Hollywood Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Hollywood
June 17, 2006 Atlanta Chastain Park Amphitheater
June 18, 2006 North Charleston Oyster Shell & North Charleston Coliseum
June 21, 2006 Toronto Canada Molson Amphitheatre
June 23, 2006 Montreal Bell Centre
June 24, 2006 Atlantic City United States Borgata Event Center
June 25, 2006 Uncasville Mohegan Sun
June 30, 2006 Clarkston DTE Energy Music Theatre
July 1, 2006 Saratoga Springs Saratoga Performing Arts Center

Road Rage Winter Tour[edit]

After the original tour cancellation The New Cars and Blondie went separate ways. Blondie went on short tour to Asia in September with single stops in USA before and after,[10] while The New Cars continued the Road Rage tour in winter[11][12] without Blondie with Persephone's Bees as a supporting act.[13] The winter dates were scheduled to be of much smaller, theatre, venues, than large-scale arenas of the summer leg. Kasim Sulton was not featured on several shows due to his touring with Meat Loaf in support of Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose album with Atom Ellis filling for him.[14]

Promotion[edit]

VIP Tickets, a popular feature during the summer tour, was available for most venues of the winter leg, with the exclusion of the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank. Reserved fan-club seating was also available at most venues, except the Count Basie. A ticket pre-sale began on September 18, 2006. Ticketmaster supplied the tickets for most of the venues, although Seatadvisor and various box offices did carry tickets for others.

Personnel[edit]

Blondie
The New Cars

References[edit]

  1. ^ "THE NEW CARS CRUISE INTO THE FAST LANE WITH ROCK & ROLL HALL OF FAMERS, BLONDIE "ROAD RAGE TOUR 2006" PRESENTED BY VH1 CLASSIC". blondie.net. March 14, 2006. Retrieved 2014-01-12.
  2. ^ "The New Cars and Blondie: Road Rage". emusic.com. Retrieved 2014-01-12.
  3. ^ Michael Harkins (19 May 2006). "THE NEW CARS & BLONDIE – ROAD RAGE TOUR 2006 Review". trconnection.com. Retrieved 2014-01-12.
  4. ^ "NEW CARS' ELLIOT EASTON GOES IN FOR REPAIRS NATIONAL ROAD RAGE TOUR CANCELLED". blondie.net. June 16, 2006. Retrieved 2017-07-25.
  5. ^ "NEW CARS' ELLIOT EASTON GOES IN FOR REPAIRS NATIONAL ROAD RAGE TOUR TAKES A PIT STOP". blondie.net. June 12, 2006. Retrieved 2017-07-25.
  6. ^ "New Cars Tour Cancelled". classicrock.about.com. June 21, 2006. Archived from the original on January 12, 2014. Retrieved 2014-01-12.
  7. ^ "Blondie Setlist at Gibson Amphitheatre, Universal City, CA, USA". setlist.fm. Retrieved 2014-01-12.
  8. ^ "Blondie Setlist at Wolf Trap, Vienna, VA, USA". setlist.fm. Retrieved 2014-01-12.
  9. ^ "Blondie ambition for rockin' Albright-Knox event". bizjournals.com. May 1, 2006. Retrieved 2014-01-12.
  10. ^ "CALENDAR & TOUR SCHEDULE 2006". deborah-harry.com. Archived from the original on 2014-01-12. Retrieved 2014-01-12.
  11. ^ "New Cars Back On The Road". pollstar.com. September 14, 2006. Retrieved 2014-01-12.
  12. ^ "The New Cars Resume Touring With 'Road Rage Winter Tour'". starpulse.com. September 26, 2006. Retrieved 2014-01-12.
  13. ^ "Persephone's Bees to Join The New Cars on Road Rage Winter Tour". prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2014-01-12.
  14. ^ "The New Cars Road Rage Tour 2006 (featuring Kasim Sulton)". kasiminfo.com. Retrieved 2014-01-12.