Can a silver bullet of over seventy three years still transmit happiness upon the hearts of concertgoers?
Can a Grand Funk Railroad of fifty years still take you on a glorious bullet train ride of nostalgia, or for those first timers, showcase the majesty and energy that rock and roll can present?
The answer is "YES!" in both counts, I came to the show with a limited knowledge of the Headliner's tunes, aside from the major hits, and correctly intuited that Grand Funk covered "Loco-Motion," and not wrote the song, realized in retrospect.
From the first song, the admiration of this band and their performance went from zero to sixty in a short amount of time. It would be pointless in denying the vigor this love of music and music itself had afforded the members, or that they were devoid of "Rock n' Roll Soul." Their excitement and energy remained infectious throughout, and they kept their promise outlined in the opening line on "Footstompin' Music" as that love was evident in their performance.
There have been many times in a concert where I find myself in the moment and cannot entirely process the event until the next day, and this was no exception, yet I was able to enjoy it completely this time.
Their short set included three covers all worthy of praise, but the one that drove the whole crowd to their feet was the rock refurbishment of Carole King's "Loco-Motion." As I recount that performance, as a newly initiated fan on the "Inside Looking Out," I find myself jamming out to an older video recording of the band performing The Animals cover live, as I write this, and I found that the energy did not really waver from then to now. I may still be experiencing euphoria, but the set was really "Some Kind of Wonderful."
Songs with longer than average running time can still captivate an audience, even the later generations addled with an eroded attention span, and "I'm Your Captain (Closer To Home)" holds that honor. Their set's denouement, although shorter, was just as memorable; I could infer the title of the latter, but I had to look up the title of the former.
While I am a little more familiar with Bob Seger and his magazine of silver bullets, there were a good amount of songs I had to reacquaint myself with, and not only did I find out there were songs that I had recognized before knowing the name, but the resolution of the saga of the Seger song without a name came to pass; "Mainstreet" and its live rendition was as good as I can hope for.
For all of his touring, you would think it would have worn him down, and while it may have slowed him down, he is "Still the Same." He did weave in some acoustic guitar led performances within the show, but it was for the betterment of it and the song's resonance.
He was an energetic geriatric, with all due respect; he was also a gracious host, and not only gave every member of the core band and extended touring members their due, and exclaimed their recent accolades, but made sure that the whole arena was given some "face time."
To ask how any artist can continue with their pursuit of music for so long can be due to the fact that they are attuned to the flame within, the music within their heart, as sappy as that can be, it helps immensely to love, and believe in, your art.
Although we have been hearing it all along, with its charms, the question still arose. To when will we hear "Good Old Rock N' Roll?" five songs in, and at the right time.
It is interesting to hear songs such as 'The Fire Down Below," implications included, and "Her Strut" in the same set as the tribute to his children "In Your Time," prefaced by the dedication to his kids, as well as "Come To Poppa," which showcase the dimensions of the artist; the latter of which can find itself straddling between the healing that love can bring with or without the linkage of loins.
To tour is to really put love to the test, and some of his songs can serve as anthems for the vagabond heart, or the seeker on an existential quest, to find the holy grail of belonging and purpose, or maybe it is the result of that grasp of the grail, and though a "Travelin' Man" Seger has come to be, he has found the one alluded to in "You'll Accomp'ny Me." Live Renditions of the aforementioned, as well as "Roll Me Away" and "Beautiful Loser," also serve as solid odes to the road and its gravity for those in search of more.
As if the concert wasn't already saturated with great songs, some of his biggest hits were yet to be played, and track I still associate with Chevrolet, was another poignant moment giving life to everyone on stage; nostalgia flowed through the venue as he sang this tune he may have recalled, not only how he felt when it was written initially, but what the song was about, when he was reminiscing about being eighteen.
Then there is his most famous of songs that was never an official single, and one many pined to hear, he had to integrate a tidbit of info, and before that iconic saxophone intro, he spotlighted Alto here. You can hear a song thousands of times, but even then it's possible that hearing it live and being present can provide it in a different light, and I believe it did; no, I haven't heard the song over one hundred times, that I can recall, but it was a pleasant experience after all.
Another poignant moment would have to be when he performed Bob Dylan's "Forever Young," that featured a slideshow of artists we have lost in recent years such as: Petty, Prince, Aretha Franklin, and there was a nostalgic Pic with Seger and Petty, and some of Dylan among others I could not recall. He gave praise to Dylan before the song began; if I remember correctly, about him being one of the best songwriters? Sounds about right.
It was nice to hear "We've Got Tonight" live, another song I wasn't aware Seger sang, a some calm before the conjoined "Travelin' Man/Beautiful Loser." While the chorus rang in my ears, as it came to the second encore, I was too tired to contemplate, but we heard two great tunes that showcased both sides of the silver bullet man; the melodic and infectious "Against The Wind," and the lateral riot of "Hollywood Nights."
It's a night that I will not forget, and it may be the first of more concerts I go to with my dad.
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