BOB SEGER AND THE SILVER BULLET BAND DELIVERS ROCK ‘N ROLL IN TORONTO
Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band
Air Canada Centre
Toronto, Ontario
April 13, 2011
About 20 seconds after he started singing I was well assured Bob can still sing his ass off! He sounded great. I never saw him live back in the day but Bob and the Silver Bullet Band are doing a great job keeping classic rock n roll alive.
Opening with “Roll Me Away”, Bob and his band took us right back to the 70’s with a non-stop barrage of old time rock n roll, all puns intended. The band featured such great musicians as Grand Funk Railroad’s Don Brewer, long time bassist Chris Campbell, Alto Reed who’s legendary sax work can be found gracing the tunage of such artists as Foghat, Grand Funk, Spencer Davis, Tico Torres, and the Blues Brothers.
Guitarist Mark Chatfield tore up the Air Canada Centre with a killer solo on the tune “Beautiful Loser” before breaking for quite possibly the shortest intermission I’ve ever witnessed. What can you possibly do in 5 minutes to prepare yourself for another hour of rock n roll deliverance?? Well… ok… I know of a few things but let’s not go there!
Sporting as many as 14 members at a time, with a back chorus line of lovely singing ladies and the kick ass horn section combined with the heavy hitters, the Silver Bullet Band proved to be band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline. Almost every member of the band played a second or third instrument at some point including Bob himself who played both piano and guitar during various tunes.
Inducted into the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame in March 2004, Bob Seger showed us his worthiness by rolling out the red carpet of hits he’s chalked up over the years. “Her Strut”, “Mainstreet”, “Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man”, “Katmandu”, “Hollywood Nights”, “Turn the Page” were wrapped around a bunch of other great tunes anyone who’s ever listened to a classic rock station would know. The only glaring omission of greats I noticed was the absentee, “Night Moves”.
All in all, it was a great couple hours of music. Other than the cool light setup, there wasn’t much of a SHOW to speak of, but Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band are definitely delivering up some of the best rock n roll ever created. If you just like watching a good full band competently and expertly bring it all together for you, you’d love watching Bob introduce hit after solid hit for an entire show.
I know they all say the same thing at this point in the game, namely the old cliché, “this is the last tour”, or the more loosely worded, “this is PROBABLY the last tour”, but we all know guys like Bob Seger are gonna rock til they drop. Seeing as he’s been hanging out with Kid Rock these days, you never know just how much new life the Kid will breath into him. Either way, if you’re a big Bob fan you should probably get out there and travel his memory lane of rock n roll before he hops on his sailboat and calls it a day.
PHOTOS OF THE SHOW CAN BE FOUND HERE!
Category: Photo Updates, Reviews
