The Road Rage Tour was a concert tour co-headlined by The New Cars and Blondie in the North America in 2006.
Background 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"). 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. 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.
Tour dates + List of 2006 concerts Date City Country VenueMay 12, 2006RobinsonvilleUnited StatesGrand Casino Tunica Event CenterMay 13, 2006Grand PrairieNokia TheatreMay 17, 2006PhoenixDodge TheatreMay 19, 2006Las VegasAladdin Theatre for the Performing ArtsMay 20, 2006Los AngelesGibson AmphitheatreMay 23, 2006AlpineViejas CasinoMay 25, 2006SaratogaMountain WineryMay 26, 2006RenoReno Events CenterMay 27, 2006KelseyvilleKonocti Field AmphitheaterMay 30, 2006Greenwood VillageCoors AmphitheatreJune 1, 2006HinckleyGrand Casino AmphitheatreJune 3, 2006Highland ParkRavinia PavilionJune 4, 2006Cuyahoga FallsBlossom Music CenterJune 6, 2006ViennaFilene CenterJune 7, 2006BostonBank of America PavilionJune 9, 2006WantaghJones Beach Music TheaterJune 10, 2006HolmdelPNC Bank Arts CenterJune 20, 2006BuffaloRockin' at the Knox[A]
Notes A^ This show was Blondie only without The New Cars
Cancelled dates Date City Country VenueJune 13, 2006OrlandoUnited StatesHard Rock LiveJune 14, 2006ClearwaterRuth Eckerd HallJune 15, 2006HollywoodSeminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino HollywoodJune 17, 2006AtlantaChastain Park AmphitheaterJune 18, 2006North CharlestonOyster Shell & North Charleston ColiseumJune 21, 2006TorontoCanadaMolson AmphitheatreJune 23, 2006MontrealBell CentreJune 24, 2006Atlantic CityUnited StatesBorgata Event CenterJune 25, 2006UncasvilleMohegan SunJune 30, 2006ClarkstonDTE Energy Music TheatreJuly 1, 2006Saratoga SpringsSaratoga Performing Arts Center
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. 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.
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 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 Blondie Debbie Harry – vocals Chris Stein – guitars Clem Burke – drums Kevin Patrick – keyboards Leigh Foxx – bass Paul Carbonara – guitars
The New Cars Todd Rundgren – lead vocals, rhythm guitar Elliot Easton – lead guitar, backing vocals Greg Hawkes – keyboards, backing vocals Kasim Sulton – bass guitar, lead and backing vocals Prairie Prince – drums, percussion
References