UNCASVILLE, Conn. – Detroit’s Bob Seger brought his high-energy live show to the Mohegan Sun Arena on Saturday night. The sold-out show had fans zipping through a time warp with songs reaching as far back as 1971, and also included some new material. His latest release, 2014’s Ride Out and first since 2006, provided a total of five songs played that night.
Seger played a solid two-hour set and started the night out with Roll Me Away. With a huge stage and a huge number of musicians, both Seger and band sounded great. A cove of Otis Clay’s Tryin’ to Live My Life Without You and The Fire Down Below followed. The first new song of the night and another cover, Steve Earle’s The Devil’s Right Hand fit in to the early part of the set perfectly.
Getting the crowd fully involved and off their seats, Seger played the classic Mainstreet and then ripped into Old Time Rock & Roll, which was named one of the Songs of the Century in 2001. Not slowing down, a new song, only available as a bonus song on the Ride Out release, The Fireman’s Talkin also fit seamlessly into the set.
Seger, taking the occasional water break, really doesn’t stop moving onstage and consistently works each side of the arena. Based on his stage presence and energy, you wouldn’t realize that Seger is 69 years old and has been recording and playing live since the 1960s.
Filling out the middle of the set Seger and band played Come to Poppa, Her Strut, Like a Rock, Travelin’ Man, Beautiful Loser and another new one, a cover of Wilco’s California Stars. Another new one, Gypsy, was introduced by Seger talking about an Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughn concert he went to years ago with his wife. Seger mentioned his admiration for both artists and how he had always wanted to write a song that Stevie Ray would have put on one of his releases. Musically, he was spot-on with this one. This was a very cool tribute to a master guitar player and legend.
Seger really had the crowd roaring when he went back to back with We’ve Got Tonight and one of my all-time favorite songs, Turn the Page. Both songs had every single member of the audience singing along. Finishing off the night was another new one and another cover, Detroit Made by John Hiatt. Seger made mention how everyone from the band was from Michigan and once he heard Hiatt’s song, he knew it was going on the record and making it into the live set.
Seger came back out after a couple minutes for the first of two encores. Proving how many hits he has, Against the Wind and Hollywood Nights once again brought the fans to their feet. They stayed standing as Seger took a second break before coming back out for encore number two. Finishing off the night, were Night Moves and Rock and Roll Never Forgets.
This was a great night of classic Rawk from an extremely talented song writer. Seger seems to really enjoy himself out there and also seems to really appreciate the fans coming out to see him. He is a living legend in terms of classic song hits and seeing him live for the first time…I am now an even bigger fan.
Mike Augusti’s Rawk Report provides live music reviews of local concerts in Massachusetts and Connecticut. Check out the Rawk Report on Facebook for more information. Feel free to reach out at [email protected].
