The Cars - Touch And Go (Live On Fridays) 

Elliott's solos always told a story custom built for the song - a criminally underrated guitarist

Elliot Easton throws it down on this one. I swear this guy has some of the most well phrased solos of any guitarist alive or dead.

This was on in the Fall of 1980. How time flies by.

Great job drummer

Dam... I miss this band so much..!!! They were so awesome.

Love the smile Ric gives the audience at the end. Will be missed.

This is Sheer Perfection!! When you think it can’t get any better there’s Ben’s White Shoes!! Yes!!

I so love this performance. The 5/4 beat is perfect, it makes the galloping beat that follows all the more exhilarating. Maybe my favorite pop/rock song ever. Eliot is such a perfect fit for the band and nails the solo. He is a one of a kind guitarist.

Funny how the country and western guitar sound fits so well with this new wave song.

Man I remember this performance. They were so freaking good. RIP Ric.

Such a fantastic band and great music. Rest In Peace - Ben Orr and sadly now Ric Ocasek

EE was a master at the guitar solo.

Nobody cranked out 4 minute pop songs like the Cars.

Real, real good solo, and though I’m not a big keyboard guy, I think Greg Hawkes was the unsung hero of the band And really under appreciated.

They sound spectacular in this Friday's performance & Ric looks great, looks relaxed! At song end when the crowd bursts into a loud roar of pleasure & praise, his smile is priceless! How incredible it must be to feel that level of appreciation. Elliot Easton's lead! They're all in high gear.

Such an odd little tune by the Cars.. with that 5/4 time signature- it begins with that dark vibe and then by the chorus it feels as if we’re in an amusement park. Then the awesome guitar solo that has an almost country swagger.. Such a whirlwind of a song!

ive been into a nostalgic phase the last few days and the Cars have been a perfect fit for my mindset

This is just fucking beautiful!! Ricks moves and that bass.. brilliant band

Rick was happy, the crowd was happy, I'm happy.

9-15-19 ~ R.I.P. RIC This was one of my favorites that he sang. I like many other's grew up playing the Cars music. I am now 62, and still listen. He will surely be missed. Thanks for the catalogs of the many , many tunes Ric. Loved The band you formed The cars......it got a lot of us through our youth . Hope you and Benjamin are jamming together again. Love you always.

One of the best live bands ever,best band period

The Cars were way before their time... Benjamin Orr was the original front man but the marketing genius, unique voice and total coolness of Ric Ocasek took them to international level... RIP RIC & BEN.

Awesome performance

that's the perfect synthesis of individuals at their peak. Cars forever.

Best Live Performance I've ever seen...Too bad The Cars didn't arrive today...Blow everyone outta the water. Odd Perfection. Elliott killin it.

I would use my one ride in a time machine to go back and be in this audience. RIP Ben and Rick and music this good.

So glad that I found this video, I had forgotten about this song. It is so cool and I love the "Look," especially the shoes that Benjamin Orr has on. Elliot's guitar solos were always so right for the song.

Elliot Easton has got to be one of the most underrated guitarists. The lead in this is awesome is all of his guitar work. Love The Cars.

E.E. Fender Lead guitar. Nice! The Cars were a must at parties.

TOP NOTCH...live performance!!!

Thank you Ric, for the music, the style and the lyrics.

Wow. I remember making a plan to watch Fridays when the Cars were playing. This song is so mesmerizing.

Elliot Easton guitar badass solo!

That's an awesome hit!

Wonderful Guitarist.......😍😍😍👏👏👏👏👏

Ever humble Ben almost appears to make sure he let's Ric have the spotlight in this awesomely musically innovative song!

Excellent.

From September 19, 1980

touch and go are my best song in the cars album !

one of the finest post punk pop's song

True Story! My old girl friend back in the early 80s named her horse “Touch n Go” This song reminded her writing her horses 😁

Elliot Easton was very underrated guitarist it's a damn shame need I say more?

Cars are the coolest

One of my favorite guitar solos, it's perfectly paired with the melody and overall mood of the song. Kudos to EE! Got to see them live a couple of times. I have all their music on my ipod and still listen to them frequently. Love this band!!!!!

Let's see ANY other rock band cover that tune as well live. The Cars were an intense and memorizing band live - especially as a set progressed. Listen to the genuine intensity of the crowd reactions too. That's music-mojo-magic reaching different vibes in people.

The offbeat stanzas at the intro grab you. Great melodies, tight instrumentation and vocals make this a song that offers something new with every listen. My favourite of many hits by The Cars.

All these years I've been trying to emulate the "touch and go" synth on a prophet 5 and it looks like it was from a Roland VP-330 Vocoder. WOW!! (sorry, synth geek here). But amazing to learn!

Waaay too many thumbs downs on this video. There shouldn't be any. This was a totally better time. Great music and when America was a free country.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR WONDERFUL MUSIC! 😢 YOU’RE A LEGEND NOW! HOPE YOU’RE WITH BENJAMIN AND HAVE FUN IN ROCK’N ROLL HEAVEN! RIP RIC OCASEK...🌹

The Cars ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

OMG! What a beautiful gift! This performance is priceless! They were in good shape that night! David’s drums so tight, Greg’s synths so animated, Ben’s bass so strong and his charisma is on a high level, Elliot’s solos so uniques and Ric’s energy! That smile at the end is soooooo sweet!!! And a lovely crowd too!!! THANK YOU! 🙏🙏🙏

I love this one because you can actually see that Ric is having fun up there and interacting with the other guys and even the audience. If your a fan like I am, you know this is not always the case. Really great, tight performance too!

ВСЕ ТАЛАНТЫ! ГРУППА ШЕДЕВР! БОЖЕСТВЕННЫЙ ГОЛОС БЕНА БУДУТ СЛУШАТЬ ВЕКАМИ! 👌👌🇸🇮🇸🇮🇸🇮2023Г.СПАСИБО! 🙏

I grew up listening to hard rock and metal, but these guys were the exception. I saw them live several times, and what an amazing band. Each one of those guys are solid. Elliot Easton, a fellow Long Island native.... so horribly underrated. Listen to all of their songs, and just listen to his solos. They are just masterpieces. This song was one of them. The Cars were one of a kind.

Elliott is a freaking outstanding and talented guitarist, underrated by the way.

Three people don't have the ability to touch and go but the rest of us can shake it up.

Awesome song from an Awesome album....& one of the greatest guitar solos ever

Perfect sound together

DOUBLE E, Awesome guitarist! Rock On, Cars......

I have been a rabid fan of The Cars since I first heard them on the radio in Tennessee in 1979 and still love the band and I've always thought Ben's bass line in this particular song was killer. Sounds so easy yet perfectly melodic. To my ears the only bassist to surpass him in terms of melody is Paul McCartney. Such a shame and incredibly unfair he died so very young. Cancer SUCKS.

I saw them at the Aladdin in Vegas back in 82. They were amazing.

Que hermoso era Ben !

I saw this live on tv while a senior in high school. When I reference The Cars on Fridays, nobody even knows what the heck I'm talking about. What happened?

Who could ask for more?

The BEST

Ben Orr was the most beautiful man, just look at him, he was perfect.

Perfection.

RIP Ric Ocasek

gad *dang*, man! too effin' *good*, mate!

Pre-Ritalin Rock and Roll was so f'ing good. Glad I experienced it in real-time.

My fav band till i discovered the police but they will always b special to me..they ROCK!!!

What was Ric on during this show? This and the later segment (Shoo-be-Doo, Gimme Some Slack) .....he was never so animated before or since!

Mr Easton is a GOD.

Anytime anyone says "The Cars were good but not that challenging as musicians". Simply say, "Touch and Go"! I have no idea what this sounded like as a demo. Did Ric write the bass line and build around that? Or did he start with Keys? And how about those time signature changes? Was that part of the Ocasek demo or did the band develop that? They only way I can imagine he came up with this song was by writing the bass line first then introducing a simplified drum line. But I've never heard of Ocasek writing on the Bass. My understanding is he writes primarily on guitar and on occasion (songs like Drive) on keys. I know it was a group effort in the end (Only Elliot Easton writes those solo's) but I would love to know how this particular song was developed. By the way, thanks for the upload, the sound is great!

Fuckin BADASS !!!!!!!

R.I.P Ric Ocasek.

Clean..

Perfecto😎

Yes

Best parts of this video are at 1:56 and 3:05. Benjamin, you were so hot!!

From September 19, 1980

KILLER

How's your headache? It's touch and go...

Elliot en fuego!

Rip Ric

Jitterbug, what time 0ur you picking me up and what is her name ?

Let's Get Real #GetRealCreepO #MemoryEternal #strawberryincenseforever #KeepOnKeepinOn #ThrewOutThroughOut #BirthdaysYesOk #bathrobeblues #phantomoftheopera #HopeThisHelps #LaughsLast #eyes #crazyeyes #DrTerror #BadHats #BigFangs #BigHearts #DammitQuint #TheJawsGro #aecjdrumwalk #dreamhome #laughslast #AprilBirthdays #PeaceAfterAll

Ben Orr

Poor Charles Rocket said the F word and we all got it. WE all said it but it was LIVE>>> And several years later he ended up killing himself. It was a promising show a lot of us anted to happen. SNL was in a terrible tailspin and we needed some late night relief. The Cars were big and any other guests, Tom Petty? showed up too. But ultimately andy Kaufman, the Rocket incident etc. etc. caused the show to ka-bloeey. Yes, Lefty guitarist had one of his finest moments. "Flying like a cement kite. Cha.

I loved the Cars, but this is the kind of performance that shows pop music is a joke.

Meh. I love the Cars. But I never cared for this tune. Kind of disjointed musically. Not much to grab on to.

TERRIBLE

This is when the Cars lost the plot, and veered into mediocrity. Horrifying to think that this followed Candy-O.

I like this version of the show on this song as at the end you can see how Ric was so thankful for the crowd's reaction. I've said it before and I will say it again "If you got to grow up in the 50's through the 80's YOU were blessed!"

Ben Orr playing a fender precision bass special?