Bob Seger. Where has the time gone? First concert: 1974 at Cobo Arena, where he would record Live Bullet a year later. He played for $1 for a bunch of high school students who had participated in a March of Dimes fundraiser. We also had the "pleasure" of hearing Brownsville Station and a group called, Church. It was Seger that we had all come to hear, though.
Two years later at the Pontiac Silverdome there were 76,000 of us together to hear the local legend who had made a big splash with "Live" with the Silver Bullet Band. One giant sing-a-long, as we all knew the words. "Beautiful Loser" played on the 8-track of my Mustang Ghia as we drove to the concert. After listening to Elvin Bishop sing about how he "fooled around and fell in love" the crowd waited anxiously for Bob Seger to take the stage and I can't recall how long he played, but it was most of the new album plus a few other songs.
When Seger hit it big, he headed out to the streets of L.A. for some of his most successful albums. I saw him a couple of time during those years at Cobo Hall and Pine Knob where the tickets to each concert became harder to come by. He was Michigan's answer to Springsteen, but he had been at it longer, though for years mired in the regional success without the same level of national recognition. That was until "Night Moves" anyways. He then strung together a number of successful, millon-selling albums, including "Stranger in Town," and "Against the Wind."
After a long layoff, he came back with a decent, if nondescript album, "It's A Mystery." The tour, however, in 1996, was excellent and I was able to see him again, this time at the Rosemont Horizon in Chicago. Then the real hiatus took place and Bob Seger became family man, motorcycle dad, and yacht captain (winning the Port Huron to Mackinaw race twice). He stayed close to home in the Detroit suburbs and took the kids to school.
The love of music apparently never died, just like Rock and Roll Never Forgets. He kept writing and culled down his 60 new songs into the 12 that appear on his newest album, "Face the Promise." I wasn't sure what to expect of the concert, as his voice sounded weaker and raspier on his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction and during a few television appearances when the new album came out. He must have either a great vocal coach or some tricks to strengthen his voice because he was in fine form for the concert last night at the Allstate (formerly Rosemont Horizon) Arena.
His set was excellent and mixed with some hard rockers and his famous ballads. A few songs could have been left out, "Satisfied" and "Simplicity" weren't his best and could have added a few like "Fire Lake," "Like a Rock," and one of my favorites, "Jody Girl." All in all, though, he sounded stronger than he did in 1996 and that is saying something for the man who has gone from sweet 16 to 61. He has faced the promise and his fans are the ones who have benefited.
I hope we don't have to wait another 10 years to see him rock the house, though.
No comments:
Post a Comment