Concert review: Cars at the Riviera
The Cars defined an era, but it’s now three decades in the rear-view mirror. Not that it mattered Wednesday at the sold-out Riviera.
Four of the five original members (founding bassist Ben Orr died in 2000) took their old, new-wave sound out for its first test drive in 24 years, but they saw no reason for updates, makeovers or hip-hop remixes.
There was always something sleekly mechanical about the Boston band, its three-minute pop songs a crisp, gleaming staple of commercial radio from 1978 to 1987; 13 cracked the top-40. Whereas some artists see their songs as living entities that can change over time, the Cars created them as immutable art objects not to be messed with. Their influence can be heard in countless contemporary bands, from Weezer to the Strokes.