Bob Seger - Old Time Rock 'n' Roll

In recent years, there has been a vast cross-section of classic-rock artists leaving retirement for the open road. After an 11-year hiatus, Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band has joined that movement, but possess something many of the others don't: demand.
On Saturday one of Detroit's finest rockers played a sold-out show at the 10,000-seat Mohegan Sun Arena on his tour supporting "Face the Promise," Seger's new album. Tickets were in such high demand that seats sold near $100 per at the box office, and in minutes only singles were left.
But after the two-hour raucous, but at times tender, performance, nobody left with buyer's remorse. Especially since the spry, 61-year-old Seger showed surprisingly strong command of his band, his voice, the stage and the crowd.
His fifth song in was the classic-rock classic "Old Time Rock 'n' Roll." And with that, open areas of the floor were banging with dancing feet. Not surprisingly, "Betty Lou's Going Out Tonight," "Sunspot Baby" and the "Traveling Man/Beautiful Loser" medley all had similar effects.
But the stand-out moments of the show were not the upbeat rockers or golden-oldie boppers, but the earnest and sentimental ballads, on which Seger has built a strong reputation.
With each power ballad, the house went black and a single, smoky spotlight hit Seger and his piano, proving highly effective for the darkly written "Turn the Page." Overexposure to any song can leave a person unresponsive to its original brilliance, especially if a certain unnamed heavy metal band ruined it. But a live version of this song, with its sunset lyrics, hollow bass platform and screeching saxophone interludes, cements it as a modern-day Western classic.
And while on the topic of moving ballads, "We Got Tonight" had many people back at their senior prom, evident in the mass singalong, and in the number of couples slow-dancing on the floor.
Seger squeezed in five songs from his new album, which unfortunately, but predictably, translated to "beer run" for much of the crowd.
Then the show finished with a double encore. "Night Moves," the song that sums up the reality of teenage love and lust, moved into "Hollywood Nights." Then he wrapped up with "Against the Wind" - and, probably not by accident, a song whose lyrics work for an old rock star who just came out of retirement: "You can come back baby, rock 'n' roll never forgets."

SETLIST

101 roll me away
102 tryin to live my life without you
103 wreck this heart
104 main street
105 old time rock and roll
106 wait for me
107 face the promise
108 betty lous gettin out tonight
109 weve got tonight
110 turn the page
111 introduction
112t ravelin man
113 beautiful loser

201 simplicity
202 ralin galin man
203 cest la vie
204 real mean bottle
205 the answer is in the question
206 sunspot baby
207 horizontal bop
208 katmandu
209 night moves (encore 1)
210 hollywood nights (encore 1
211 against the wind (encore 2)
212 rock and roll never forgets (encore 2)