| Concert Tour Name: | Road Rage Tour |
| Artist: | The New Cars and Blondie |
| Start Date: | May 12, 2006 |
| End Date: | July 1, 2006 |
| Number Of Legs: | 1 |
| Chronology: | Blondie tour chronology |
| Last Tour: | UK Tour (2005) |
| This Tour: | Road Rage Tour (2006) |
| Next Tour: | 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.
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]
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]
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]
| 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] | |
| 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 | |
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,[8] while The New Cars continued the Road Rage tour in winter[9] [10] without Blondie with Persephone's Bees as a supporting act.[11] 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 album with Atom Ellis filling for him.[12]
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.