Still the Same (Almost); Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band12/13 Concert Review

This year has been quite an anomaly, or maybe it's the new norm as I've hit 30 and become even more frugal and cynical. But this was the first and likely only concert I went to this year. It kept a streak going of me going to at least one concert every year since 2004, but this is the first year since 2005 that I've only been to one. I don't know if it was just not that many good acts I wanted to see or I've just lost a lot of interest. I didn't go see Jamey Johnson at the Blue Note this Spring, like I have the past two years.  But other than that off the top of my head, there weren't really any shows I even remotely thought about going to see. Well, I take that back, I was tempted to go to the Roots N Blues Fest in Columbia to see John Prine and Roseanne Cash, but didn't.
Anyhow, I'd seen Bob Seger, who I previously saw at Scottrade Center in 2011, was returning to St. Louis a couple of months back and sort of thought about it. I had it planned where I was off every weekend from work the last two months anyway, so I just played the waiting game if I could get decent seats and wound up with seats about 13 rows up directly stage left.

Upon arriving an hour early for the 8 PM start time, we were subjected to a waiting in line outside due to the Scottrade Center doing wand checks, no doubt to Ferguson bullshit. But it's a bunch of rich old white people. Thankfully we're in a heatwave for December. Once we got in and settled, the seats were pretty good view, though slightly behind the stage front.
At about 8:15, the opening act the J. Geils Band(sans J. Geils who doesn't play with them) hit the stage, for a ten song 50 minute or so set. They opened with an instrumental before their wild frontman, Peter Wolf hopped out front. For a near seventy year old man, he can rival Mick Jagger for still being in wiry good shape, dancing and jumping around the stage. Not to mention, talking so fast it's unintelligible. 
Overall they were good for an opening act. I knew them mainly from the songs Freeze Frame(which they didn't play), Love Stinks and Centerfold, but think I've heard a couple of their others at some point.

Set List

Sno-cone

Hard Drivin' Man

Give It to Me

Centerfold

Detroit Breakdown

Must of Got Lost

Love Stinks

Lookin' for a Love

Whammer Jammer

Ain't Nothin' But a House Party

After the set change Bob and the Silver Bullet Band hit the stage at around 9:20 and played 20 songs for almost two hours. Bob doesn't change a whole lot about his shows. He opened with the same three song salvo and does the same four songs in  two encores. The encores were funny, as my dad noted that they were setting up his stool for Against the Wind and Night Moves each time before he was even off the stage.
I so wish every artist would stop doing the fake bull shit encores. We know you're coming back, you've held back several of your biggest songs and the house lights are still off. Just play all your set and leave. If the crowd really wants it and stays, play a true encore.
The only other set list complaint was the fact that I wish he would have played the acoustic guitar numbers in a row, instead of alternating almost every time during the mid point of the show. Bring the stool out, take it back for song, then bring it out.
Seger is out in support of his new album Ride Out, which we got five songs from. My dad was super impressed with them and believes it's the whole reason people came out to see him(Sarcasm if you can't tell). The only decent sounding one was All of the Roads, which he preformed acoustically. Another aspect this time, was that he used video screens, which he didn't used to do. From our seats though, it was a slight strain to turn around, but still good to have.

Seger's voice was in decent form, though nowhere near his contemporaries, Springsteen or Neil Young. Mainly due to the fact he could never give up smokes. From our seats, when he left the stage during encores, we could see him lighting up before he got backstage.
But in some faster paced songs, he missed a word. The more acoustic and slower numbers at the piano sounded the strongest. It doesn't help that he has a wall of sound with a horn section and backup singers, plus the rest of the band for the heavier songs.
The highlights for me was Mainstreet and Like a Rock. Mainstreet for whatever reason sounded better here live, especially Alto Reed's sax playing. And part of me hoped he would break out Like A Rock. Last time we saw him, he didn't play it(he'd had it retired since the 90s), but he played it the last time he played St. Louis in Spring 2013. I try to avoid looking at set lists, in order to be surprised, so I wasn't for sure whether he would play it this time or not. It's one of his iconic songs and I'm glad he broke it out.
Overall it was a good time. You know a lot of what to expect with Seger, he plays his big seven hits or so, plus a sprinkling of other songs from his mid to late 70s heyday. Though he didn't play Sunspot Baby this time, Like A Rock might have made this concert a little bit better.

Set List

Roll Me Away
Tryin' To Live My Life Without You
The Fire Down Below
The Devils Right Hand
Mainstreet
Old Time Rock and Roll
The Fireman's Talkin
Come to Poppa
Her Strut
Like A Rock
Traveling Man>Beautiful Loser
All of the Roads
Hey Gypsy
We've Got Tonight
Turn the Page
Detroit Made
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Against the Wind
Hollywood Nights
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Night Moves
Rock and Roll Never Forgets


Looking to the future of my concert going, I'm pretty sure 2015 will rebound slightly. The Who are on their 50th Anniversary Tour with a stop in St. Louis and Kansas City. They have been my overall favorite artist since I was 16, so, that's a pretty much gimme, even if it's just Daltrey and Townshend.