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With Special Guest Mollycoddle |
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Hartford, CT 11/17/97 |
| I arrive at show time, 8:30, at Toad's Place in New Haven, and the place
is dead. There are only about fifteen people wandering around the bar area.
There is no activity on stage. You'd never know that not long from now a
rock legend will be walking onto that stage. People began to accumulate
slowly, but you still can't call this a crowd. Around 9:00 there is finally
something happening on stage. At least there are the video screens to watch.
Videos by bands like "Oasis" and "Radiohead" occupy
the attention of the few people here. The warm up band, "Mollycoddle" finishes setting up and begins to play. They're a local New Haven band with Ralna Ramse on guitar Heather Orser on bass and Steve Raccagni on drums. Ramse and Orser share the lead vocalist spot, trading leads for harmony depending on the song. The drummer wears a T-shirt with a large Winnie the Pooh on it. Their first two songs are very downbeat, with few notes in them. There is the smell of incense is in the air from the few incense burners the band has set up on stage, while smoke pours out from somewhere among the amplifiers. Their third song is quite good. It's straightforward and the guitar work is interesting. Orser offers free tapes to the people closest to the stage, and mentions that we can get their tape free in Toad's rock shop. Their sixth song, "House," has some nice guitar distortion. There are some good transitions and rests in it too. They play one more song and finish by thanking the crowd for listening. They remind us of the free tapes in the rock shop again, and as they start packing up their equipment, I make my way to the other side of the bar for my free tape and to sign up for their mailing list. They're a pretty good band. By 10:15 we're still waiting for Ocasek and his new solo band to come on stage. There still aren't very many people here. It is a Monday night after all. Roadies are still setting up equipment and tuning instruments. The crowd hear is much cleaner cut than for "Blue Oyster Cult." This is the third show on Ocasek's new solo tour. I read somewhere that they've been playing a lot of "Cars" tunes, so it will be interesting to hear the new band play them. At 10:30, "Ric Ocasek" comes on stage. He shakes hands with people in the front row. Melissa Auf Der Maur (also the bass player for "Hole") puts on her bass. Greg Hawkes takes his place at the keyboards. With his playing and Ocasek's voice, "The Cars" songs should sound pretty much the same. Rounding out the band are guitarist Brian Baker from "Bad Religion" and Ira Elliot from "Nada Surf." Ocasek produced albums for all of these other bands, so he already had an intimate knowledge of their playing styles when he put the solo band together for his new album. |
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| Ocasek looks at the band members and begins playing "The Next Right
Moment," the single off the new album. It sounds pretty good. He wears
his trademark sunglasses and black leather outfit. He's looking very Ric
tonight. Of the rest of the band, Auf Der Maur stands out the most. She's
wearing glitter on her face. She sings backing vocals on their second song.
Unfortunately, I'm not familiar with all of Ocasek's solo work. I'm not
sure what song this is. Their third song is "Since You're Gone," their first "Cars" song of the evening. Hawkes sings backing vocals. I was right. With Ocasek's voice and Hawke's synthesizer, it sounds pretty much like "The Cars." I'm wondering what it's like for the new band to fill the shoes of the old band on stage. The crowd has been gradually growing, and it's pretty crowded now. The audience is getting into the show, although the band doesn't move around much. I'm not sure what the fourth song is either. It's an older solo number, I think. "Troublizing," the title song from the new album is next. It sounds good live. As they finish the song, Ric looks out into the crowd and thanks us for coming out tonight. Everyone cheers as they begin playing "Just What I Needed," one of "The Cars" early hits. It sounds great! His new band is damn tight for their third show, and they go right into "Situation" from the new album. Another "Cars" song is next. "Shake It Up" is not one of my favorites from "The Cars," but the new band does a good rendition of it. After "Shake It Up," Hawkes begins playing a slow, moody keyboard piece. It's fantastic! Slowly it evolves into "Drive" from the "Heartbeat City" album. But Benjamin Orr sang this song when "The Cars" played it. It's hard to imagine anyone else singing it. I'm figuring Ocasek is going to sing it, but Melissa Auf Der Maur steps up to her microphone. The song is much different with her vocal, but that's to be expected. She's doing a pretty good job with the song, but doesn't seem completely comfortable with it yet. That's not surprising this early in the tour. Ocasek shares the lead vocal with Auf Der Maur on "Hang on Tight" from the new album. Auf Der Maur sings backing vocals while Ocasek leads. |
| The band finishes "Hang on Tight" and leaves Ric on stage by himself. He chooses an acoustic guitar and begins playing and singing. |  |
After a few verses the rest of the band rejoins him on stage. The song builds, growing louder and louder until it ends. |
The next song is "Candy- O" from "The Cars" second
album of the same name. The crowd cheers for this one too. Coming on the
heels of "Candy-O," is "Crashland Consequence" from
Ocasek's new solo album. The crowd becomes excited when the first few notes
of their next song emerge from the amplifiers. We all know it's "Moving
in Stereo" immediately. This was always one of my favorite songs from
"The Cars" first album. It sounds terrific. It might as well be
"The Cars" playing it. With Hawkes on Keyboard and Ocasek's voice
and guitar, it sounds pretty much the same. If the band is this tight on
their third show, I'd love to hear them near the end of the tour. The next
song is a solo tune, that I don't recognize.
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