March 9, 1977 review: Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band at Kleinhans Music Hall
Remember
what happened with Peter Frampton in 1976 – first a little show as an opening
act in Memorial Auditorium, then a return as a headliner at Rich Stadium. Déjà
vu with Bob Seger in ’77 – here’s that first date in
March
9, 1977
Seger Keeps Rock Fans Rolling
“Rock and roll all night long,” Bob
Seger shouted at the end of his second encore, and as far as the kids in
Kleinhans Music Hall were concerned Tuesday night, that seemed like a good
idea.
The near sell-out crowd, which filled
all but two dozen seats, was reluctant to stop clapping. It was even more
reluctant to hold back shouting in the lobby and horn-honking in the parking
lot. Seger left them that charged up.
Unlike the opening group, Starz, he
didn’t have to resort to trickery to do it. All he needed was music.
As this season’s keeper of rock’s
old-fashioned values, you couldn’t ask for better than the Detroit-based
songwriter and bandleader.
He draws his stylings from the very
wellsprings of rock. With a raspy voice that can purr or growl, he can stir sad
memories like Ray Charles in the ballad “Night Moves” or turn around and invoke
Chuck Berry’s raucous promise of good times in “Rock ‘N Roll Never Forgets.”
* *
*
A FEW
OLD Chuck Berry tunes like “Little Queenie” in medley gave the show its final
kicker in the second encore. Sax player Alto Reed delivered the coup de grace
by blowing the final solo from a seat 10 rows down the right aisle.
Seger opened with a funky “Nutbush
City Limits,” then chose highlights from his 10-year recording career. There
was a triumphant “Beautiful Loser,” a hot, handclapping “
Seger, bearded with lank hair falling
to his shoulder blades, was not the moody specter from his record covers.
Instead, he was a joyous figure in white, leading the crowd through singalong
choruses and shouts of “Yeah.”
* *
*
HE
WAS A hard-working front man, taking an occasional turn on piano or guitar,
pointing to the soloists and dropping to a low squat for dramatic effect, as
for the call-and-answer with guitarist Drew Abbott on “Heavy Music.”
The same sort of tricks seemed jive in
the hands of Starz, an up-and-coming quartet guided by the management of Kiss.
Oblivious to all this was the one
serious musician in the band – lead guitarist Richie Ranno. He added a
much-needed touch of class to what otherwise was an exploitative performance.
* *
* * *
IN
THE PHOTO: Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band in a 1977 publicity photo.
* *
* * *
FOOTNOTE:
I had personal history with both groups on this bill. My old band Lavender Hill
had opened for what was then the Bob Seger System in a high school gym back in
the late 1960s and it had taken him this long to finally break through big.
That was thanks to the “Night Moves” album, his first with the Silver Bullet
Band, which hit the stores in October 1976.
By the time Seger went on tour, the
band had lost the services of their drummer, Charlie Allen Martin, who was
disabled in an auto accident in February. In his place was David Teegarden,
Seger’s drummer from the 1972 “Smokin’ O.P.’s” album and subsequent tour, when
he was part of the duo Teegarden and Van Winkle, a funky collaboration with
organist Skip Van Winkle.
As for Starz, they were the leather version of Kiss
and had been part of the 97 Rock concert in
Setlists are a little sparse on this leg of the Night
Moves tour on setlist.fm. Nothing from the Kleinhans show at all. Here’s a list
from the Music Hall in
Rock and Roll Never Forgets
Travelin’ Man
Beautiful Loser
Turn the Page
Sunspot Baby
Ship of Fools
Mainstreet
Come to Poppa
Mary Lou
Sunburst
Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man
Heavy Music
(encores)
Night Moves
Let It Rock (Chuck Berry cover)
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