Review of New Cars in concert at Tanglewood
July 4, 2007 concert reviewed by Dave Conlin Read.
On the Fourth of July and at Tanglewood, we saw a dynamite show of classic rock and blues performed by the New Cars and the James Montgomery Band.
It was a box office bomb, however, drawing an audience numbered only in the hundreds, and that’s a shame because it was a beauty. Tanglewood’s Fourth of July Popular Artist programming has been hit-or-miss lately: Lee Ann Rimes last year, James Taylor in 2005 and 2001, Diana Krall in 2004, Old Motown (”Temps and the Tops”it was billed) in 2003, Linda Ronstadt in 2002, and Peter, Paul, and Mary in 2000. That’s a broad enough array that the New Cars, with Todd Rundgren, seems a logical choice (never mind that Journey was on the bill originally, before cancelling their tour)!
Opening was the blues harp virtuoso James Montgomery, a Detroit native and longtime Massachusetts resident, formerly of Wiliamstown, who acknowledged the spare crowd and promised to put on a show that would “justify” their decision - a promise kept.
Rundgren and the New Cars put on just as good a rock ‘n roll show as we’ve ever heard, a dazzling 20 song set that covered the whole Cars ouvre and included a couple of Runtgren’s own compositions. Everybody was right-on; besides Rundgren on guitar and vocals, were original Cars guitarist Eliot Easton and keyboardist Greg Hawkes, former Tubes drummer Prairie Prince and Rundgren’s old Utopia bassist Kasim Sulton.
(Setlist and audience photos from the the New Cars Tanglewood show.)
On BerkshireMap.com: get directions and links to all Berkshire county theatres and performing arts venues.
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