Bob Seger Rocks South Florida

By Skip Sheffield

Bob Seger may be going against the wind, but he is still going, and taking his many fans along with him.

Bob Seger proved he still has what it takes when he brought his new, improved and enlarged Silver Bullet band to the BB&T Center in Sunrise Feb. 7.

Opening the show was a new face, Clare Dunn, who warmed up the packed house and thanked Seger profusely for choosing her as opening cat. Dunn is billed as country but she looks and sounds more like rock ‘n’ roll and she has the guitar chops to prove it.

The Silver Bullet Band included such long-time members as bassist Chris Campbell and saxophonist Alto Reed and such newcomers as one-time Boca Raton resident and former Grand Funk Railroad singer-drummer Don Brewer. Jim “Moose” Brown is an outstanding lead guitarist who also doubles on keyboards. There was a four-piece trumpet section; fiddle and mandolin by Denise Richardson and three female backup singers. If you count Seger, he had a dozen people onstage. People certainly got their money’s worth with a set list of 16 of Seger’s best songs starting with “The Fire Down Below.” The fire was on stage as the Silver Bullets blasted through such favorites as “Mainstreet,” “Old Time Rock ‘n’ Roll, “Her Strut,” “We’ve Got Tonight” and even a couple covers; Steve Earle’s “The Devil’s Right Hand” and John Hurt’s “Detroit Made.”

If that were enough, the audience demanded and received three encores with four songs, concluding appropriately with “Rock and Roll Never Forgets.” No it doesn’t Bob, and obviously no one ever forgets you. You told Rolling Stone this might be your last tour. Say it ain’t so. 

Photos by Tom Craig