Bob Seger has all the Night Moves in Vancouver

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      At Rogers Arena on Wednesday, March 27

      At the aftershow party following Bob Seger's near sell-out gig at Rogers Arena last night, his longtime saxophonist Alto Reed--best known for the stirring intro to "Turn the Page" and the party-hearty solo on "Old Time Rock and Roll"--was asked about Seger's recent claim that he's about ready to quit the road for good.

      Reed just kind of rolled his eyes and shook his head, giving the impression that his boss wasn't anywhere close to putting the Silver Bullet Band out to pasture.

      And judging by the show that Seger and his 13-piece group had just put on, why the hell would he?

      "Get Out of Denver", "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man", "Rosalie", "Still the Same"--those are just a few of the Seger classics that he didn't play last night, but their omission left little cause for complaint. Neither did the crowd seem bothered by the fact that, of the 17 originals he did do, all but four were from the seventies. The brunt of the material came from the albums Beautiful Loser ('75), Stranger in Town ('78), and especially Night Moves ('76).

      Though his own performance was impressive throughout, Seger got tons of help from an ensemble that included two guitarists, a bassist, a keyboardist, a drummer, three backup singers, and five horn players--including the aforementioned Reed. Strangely enough, the current lineup includes two guys from Grand Funk Railroad, drummer Don Brewer and keyboardist Craig Frost. Yes, it's an American band.

      Besides his tried and true hits like "Beautiful Loser", "Katmandu", "Roll Me Away", and the evocative "Night Moves" (which opened his second encore), Seger made great use of smokin' O.P.'s (other people's songs), kicking things off with John Hiatt's rollicking "Detroit Made" before getting super-funky with Otis Clay's soul gem "Tryin' to Live My Life Without You", which he'd previously recorded on the live album Nine Tonight. The set's other cover was a captivating version of Wilco's "California Stars", from its 1998 Mermaid Avenue disc.

      As if a hefty dose of Bob Seger weren't enough to satiate local '70s-rock freaks, opener Joe Walsh brought all his riff-driven goodies from 40 years ago as well, including "Rocky Mountain Way" and the James Gang hits "Funk #49" and "Walk Away". His show was basically an arena-sized version of the one he did at Coquitlam's Red Robinson Show Theatre last September--and with some of the same jokes. Before playing his much-loved solo hit from '78, "Life's Been Good", Walsh again apologized to anyone who may have been forced to hear it through repeated plays by their parents.

      I can think of worse things to suffer through. 

      You can follow Steve Newton on Twitter at @earofnewt.

      Comments

      7 Comments

      Lisa Regal

      Mar 28, 2013 at 6:34am

      Great Job Steve and thanks for all the tweets last night! Glad you made the after party.. Alto is pretty cool.. His woman Christiana is one of my best friends.. Good people! Thanks again for the article and t weeks.. Hope you join us on our fan blog!

      Rick

      Mar 28, 2013 at 3:46pm

      In my opinion it was a great concert for the ages (lord knows all age groups were represented). The crowd was into the performance from the opening note and continued until the last encore fell silent. It was well worth the trip from Victoria.

      Ryan

      Mar 28, 2013 at 6:33pm

      Bob and Joe put one hell of a concert together, Bob sounded fantastic and really put his heart and soul into his performance and when the band took their bow and headed off the stage the entire arena erupted into a roaring cheer that brought on not one but two tremendous encores that showcased even more of his classics and talent. This is one concert I will never forget and I just want to say Thank You to Bob and his Silver Bullet Band as well as Joe and his band for letting us see and hear these Legends of rock one more time!

      Pat Crowe

      Mar 28, 2013 at 11:59pm

      I really wanted to nitpick something in this concert.
      There was nothing wrong with what was going on, on stage though. Joe was Joe and Seger was very good.
      But 8.50 for a small slurp of beer in a plastic cup?
      That really is a burn.
      Modern, generic, digital arena sound systems all sound the same. They really suck the soul and individuality out of large touring acts. Everyone sounds the {boomy} same.
      I'm an analog man.

      Keith Burnam

      Mar 29, 2013 at 11:22am

      Great Steve !!!! Sounds like Seger put on another great show. Wish Seger & Walsh would have done The Mountain from The Fireinside .

      Doug

      Mar 29, 2013 at 9:29pm

      Great concert, Bob's voice was great. Also, the sound was really good. Fourth time I've seen him, all in Vancouver. 83, 87, 96 and now! Concert looked sold out to me. Looking up at the upper bowl, the very last rows were all full. I wish he would have played Fire Lake!

      Homer

      Apr 3, 2013 at 11:02am

      The competant drumwork of Don Brewer?!