Rock-tober 18, 2019

I've been listening to the gritty soulfulness of Bob Seger now for over 40 years. My introduction to the Detroit legend was listening to a 45 in my friend's bedroom when we were kids. As soon as I heard "Against the Wind", I knew I was hooked. At the time, I  perceived rockers to be guys who had to scream unintelligible lyrics to be heard over drums and amped guitars, but Seger just came across as a dude with a 6 string telling me stories about his life. Over the intervening decades, his music and the lyrics of his songs seemed to punctuate and even narrate periods or episodes in my own life.

In high school, as my buddies and I would cue up songs to cruise Jeff Davis, "Hollywood Nights" was a favorite. "Old Time Rock and Roll" was the song I heard when a lot of those same buddies and I crashed a club on our senior trip somewhere on the Florida panhandle. Years later, the words of "Turn the Page" were running through my head when I found myself encircled by a pack of bigoted knuckleheads in Birmingham.

Seger's first entry in Rock-tober was October 3, 2013, with "Like a Rock". More than any other song I've mentioned, this one, in particular, continues to resonate with me, especially these days when I've racked up enough mileage to take serious stock of my life. As I wrote then, I have regrets, but none have taken me down. Some dreams have come to pass while others have not, or at least, not yet. And now, more than ever, I have no time for "these hucksters and their schemes".

Bob Seger has been on the road for 57 years. In November 2018, he kicked off what will be his final tour. I've been to surprisingly few live concerts, but this was one tour I just could not miss so Andrea got us tickets to his show at a local venue this past May. The day was cold, wet, and rainy, and neither of us had our foul weather gear. Andrea made do with a tiny umbrella, and I managed with a trash bag I transformed into a slicker. We were soaked and chilled by the time we got to our seats, but it warmed up soon enough when the band took the stage.

The palpable energy coming off the crowd was infectious and I knew I was with my people. Over the course of the show, I vacillated between being misty-eyed and smiling from ear to ear. As Seger strode through his playlist he was essentially playing the soundtrack of my life. When I heard the opening chords of "Like a Rock" I caught myself screaming like a Scotsman charging the field at Bannockburn.

In the audience, we knew we were bearing witness to the passing of an era. We knew a rare commonality of this diverse crowd - the love of this man's music and the privilege of catching him live - was coming to an end, but we just didn't want it to end this night. We called him back for two encores. Seger graciously obliged and ended fittingly with "Rock and Roll Never Forgets". While it had a sad finality, the memories and the music remain.