Rock and Roll Never Forgets

Last night I was walking into the Palace of Auburn Hills with my wife and two daughters to see Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band. My oldest daughter, Rebecca plays the saxophone and was super excited to see the band, especially Alto Reed. My less excited daughter, Brooke who's nearly 16 and counting the days and minutes to becoming a legal driver said, "dad, why again am I going to a concert where I'm the youngest person in attendance?" After passing throngs of tailgaters she added, "and I think you're the second youngest person going to this show." My cynical teenager wasn't so far off. The silver heads were out in force to see the Silver Bullet Band.

When I was closer to ten than 16 I was lucky enough to see Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band in concert at Cobo Hall. It was definitely one of the first live shows I attended. Little did I know that those recorded shows would become the classic "Live Bullet." Here's what an Amazon reviewer posted about Live Bullet in 2000:

Bob Seger's career seemed to be going nowhere fast when he recorded the fantastic live album "Live Bullet" and consequently jump started his career. Though it was released before the album "Night Moves" and as a result contains few of his best known songs, it is still full of great songs and great performances. The best sequence is "Travelin' Man/Beautiful Loser" in which he links two good studio songs into one great live performance. Also first rate are the burned out performer anthem "Turn the Page," (lately covered by Metallica) with its weary vocals, the ballad "Jody Girl" and some great rave up versions of his early singles "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man," "Katmandu" and "Get Out of Denver." Any fan of Bob Seger or of great American classic rock should own this record.

Note the reviewer said "record." Last night's show represented four decades of memories. Memories that spanned records, 8-tracks, cassettes, CD's and iTunes downloads. Falling asleep I realized how I should have answered my daughter's question.  And how I felt being there with my wife and daughters. I'll leave it to seemingly the one song Bob didn't sing last night.

I've seen you smiling in the summer sun
I've seen your long hair flying when you run
I've made my mind up that it's meant to be
Someday lady you'll accomp'ny me