The Road Rage Tour is a

concert tour A concert tour (or simply tour) is a series of concerts by an artist or group of artists in different cities, countries or locations. Often concert tours are named to differentiate different tours by the same artist and to associate a specific to ...

co-headlined by

The New Cars The New Cars were a band formed in 2005 by two of the original members of the 1970s/1980s new wave band the Cars. The band was composed of original Cars members Elliot Easton and Greg Hawkes, along with vocalist/guitarist Todd Rundgren, vocalist ...

and Blondie in the North America in 2006.

Background

The Road Rage Tour was

first tour, the first time an incarnation of

The Cars The Cars were an American rock band formed in Boston in 1976. Emerging from the new wave scene in the late 1970s, they consisted of Ric Ocasek ( rhythm guitar), Benjamin Orr (bass guitar), Elliot Easton (lead guitar), Greg Hawkes ( keyboard ...

has toured in seventeen years.

VH-1 Classic MTV Classic (formerly VH1 Smooth, VH1 Classic Rock, and VH1 Classic) is an American pay television television network, network owned by Paramount Media Networks. It was originally launched in 1998 as VH1 Smooth, an Adult contemporary music, adu ...

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 The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

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 Roxy Music are an English rock band formed in 1970 by Bryan Ferry—who became the band's lead vocalist and principal songwriter—and bassist Graham Simpson. The other longtime members are Phil Manzanera (guitar), Andy Mackay (saxophone ...

hit " More than This"). Currently eMusic offers a shortened version of the album in a form of 4 track EP.

Set

The New Cars set was reportedly designed by drummer

Prairie Prince Charles Lempriere "Prairie" Prince (born May 7, 1950) is an American drummer and graphic artist. He came to prominence in the 1970s as a member of the San Francisco–based rock group The Tubes, was a member of Jefferson Starship from 1992 to 2 ...

. 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.

Tour cancellation

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. 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.

Set list

Tour dates

;Notes *A ^ This show was Blondie only without The New Cars

Cancelled dates

Road Rage Winter Tour

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, while The New Cars continued the Road Rage tour in winter without Blondie with Persephone's Bees as a

supporting act A opening act, also known as a warm-up act, support act, or supporting act, is an entertainment act (musical, comedic, or otherwise), that performs at a concert before the featured act, or "headliner". Rarely, an opening act may perform again a ...

. 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 Michael Lee Aday (born Marvin Lee Aday; September 27, 1947 – January 20, 2022), known professionally as Meat Loaf, was an American rock singer and actor. He was noted for his powerful, wide-ranging voice and theatrical live shows. He is on t ...

in support of '' Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose'' album with

Atom Ellis Atom Ellis (born April 8, 1966) is a bass guitarist from San Francisco, California. Atom was a founding member of the Thrash Funk band Psychefunkapus from 1986 to 1992 and a member of the San Francisco band Dieselhed from 1993 to 2000. During a ...

filling for him.

Promotion

''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 The Count Basie Center for the Arts is a landmarked performing arts center in Red Bank, New Jersey, United States. In 1926, the building opened as the "Carlton Theater" became the "Monmouth Arts Center" in 1973, and was renamed "Count Basie The ...

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 Ticketmaster Entertainment, Inc. is an American ticket sales and distribution company based in Beverly Hills, California with operations in many countries around the world. In 2010, it merged with Live Nation under the name Live Nation Enter ...

supplied the tickets for most of the venues, although Seatadvisor and various box offices did carry tickets for others.

Personnel

;Blondie * Debbie Harry –

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

* Chris Stein – guitars *

Clem Burke Clement Burke (born Clement Anthony Bozewski; November 24, 1954) is an American musician who is best known as the drummer for the band Blondie from 1975, shortly after the band formed, throughout the band's entire career. He also played drums f ...

– drums * Kevin Patrick – keyboards * Leigh Foxx – bass * Paul Carbonara – guitars ;The New Cars *

Todd Rundgren Todd Harry Rundgren (born June 22, 1948) is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, multimedia artist, sound engineer and record producer who has performed a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the band Ut ...

– lead vocals, rhythm guitar *

Elliot Easton Elliot Easton (born Elliot Steinberg, December 18, 1953) is an American guitarist. He played lead guitar and sang backing vocals for The Cars, and his guitar solos are an integral part of the band's music. Easton has also recorded music as a so ...

– lead guitar, backing vocals *

Greg Hawkes Gregory A. Hawkes (born October 22, 1952) is an American musician best known as the keyboardist for the rock band The Cars. Hawkes, a native of Fulton, Maryland, United States, attended Atholton High School where he played in a band called Teet ...

– keyboards, backing vocals *

Kasim Sulton Kasim Sulton (born December 8, 1955) is an American bass guitarist, keyboardist and vocalist. Best known for his work with Utopia, Sulton sang lead on 1980's "Set Me Free," Utopia's only top 40 hit in the United States. As a solo artist, Sulton ...

– bass guitar, lead and backing vocals *

– drums, percussion

References

{{The Cars 2006 concert tours Blondie (band) concert tours