Review by SueW:
Just a brief review tonight as I took loads of photos.

As this was my last concert of the tour for 4 weeks, I thought it would be nice to be able to walk to a venue so I opted to stay at the resort. Unfortunately I didn't realise that the resort was so large that I had to drive anyway! (Those who have been following "my tour" will be pleased to know that I managed to squeeze my foot into my heels for the first time since my accident in Dallas!)

I got on the phone the minute these tickets went on sale and ended up having to wait hang on for about 20 minutes until I spoke to an operator and then the best seat I could get was in the 7th row, and I had to opt into the $29 barbeque to get that. Generally the front area was pretty empty for Blondie's set but virtually full for The New Cars.

The concert was advertised as starting at 5.30pm so I got there at about 5.15pm but it wasn't until 6.00pm before anything actually started. Some old guy shuffled onto the stage and started announcing that it was the start of the concert season at this venue and thanked all 70 of their sponsors. He then started reading out their names (and an advertising blurb) for about 15 of them - I was concerned that he was going to read out all 70!

It then turned out that there was an (unadvertised) opening act of two guys playing an acoustic set. They were okay (one of them was in Mr Big I think the band was called) but they only had the 2 guitars and one of them broke a string during one song!

Blondie came on stage (eventually!) at about 7.00pm and played their normal set. As the sun had gone down and it was getting cold by then, I went back to my car to get my coat and then decided to listen to them from my car. I've said all the tour that I'm sure that Blondie's set is louder than The New Cars (especially in Pala when it was ridiculously loud) and tonight I was proved correct as my car was probably a quarter of a mile from the venue and I could still hear every word of her set with my doors and windows closed!

While I was waiting for the support band's support band to start, it was quite windy (the bank of stage lights were moving in the wind quite a bit and the vase of flowers on stage for Deborah Harry blew over a couple of times ) but by the time The New Cars took the stage it was very breezy and quite nippy, especially for the band as they were higher up and had their backs to the lake. Consequently they cut the set short by two songs (Just What I Needed and Open My Eyes) which Todd said was due to them not having insurance for loads of dead bodies being frozen!

Despite the wind, the sound was pretty good again tonight although Todd's vocals weren't too clear in the first couple of songs. Kasim's vocals in both All Mixed up and Drive came across really well tonight. They had screens on either side of the stage and, once again, the cameraman took a while to realise that Todd wasn't singing lead on those songs.

Not surprisingly with that wind, they didn't use the video screens on stage. (While I was listening to Blondie in my car, someone was flying a kite, it was that windy!)

Kasim was obviously having a lot of fun on stage again tonight. I hope they've brought a lot of KS guitar picks with them as he always throws out a lot and tonight was handing them to some children in front of him!

Near the end of the set, Kasim and Elliot switched sides (which was ideal for me as I was on that side!) for most of one song.

Tonight for the first time in the tour, I could see Prairie Prince quite clearly and I hadn't realised what a good drummer he is! When Todd and Elliot play their long guitar solos, it's so easy to overlook the contribution of him, Greg, Hawkes and Kasim but this band would be nothing without those three.

Kasim won "the best dressed musician on stage" award again! This was for the 10th consecutive concert(!) but I actually think he's the only one who is really trying! Todd wore his tracksuit top under his jacket again and even put the hood up on the occasions when he's not in the limelight like when Kasim's singing lead on Drive and Elliot is playing a long guitar solo!

And then it was all over for me (at least for 4 weeks!). 10 brilliant concerts, 6 flights and driving about 5,500 miles! After seeing one of the showcase gigs back in January and not really knowing any of The Cars' music (except Drive) I was unsure about how much I'd enjoy this tour but I loved it! (I know it's politically incorrect to say this but I far prefer this tour to The Liars Tour in 2004.) It's also been good to see the band going from a hesitant start in January to a really professional sounding and looking band that they are now. I've also got a real buzz out of seeing Kasim looking as though he's enjoying his time on stage far more than he has for several tours (both Meat Loaf and Todd). Being as objective as I can be, Kasim is really the one member of the band who goes out of his way to interact with the audience and that's always great to see too.

If anyone would like to send any reviews, photos or comments about any future concerts on this tour, please e-mail them to SueW@KasimInfo.com.

Comments about this gig posted on messageboards and mailing lists include:

The view of Clear Lake from my room - it really is beautiful here!

The New Cars Road Rage Tour