Bob Seger stepped on stage at Tulsa’s state of the art BOK Center and took over 13,000 of his biggest fans on a whirlwind ride through 43 years of music. Nearly two and a half hours later, Seger, and his band of 13 singers and musicians, left the stage after being called back for two encores.

Bob Seger is an American rock icon, and on this night, the favorite son of the Motor City delivered a flawless performance. His energy on stage was infectious as he punched the air in perfect time with drummer Don Brewer, before throwing his arms up in celebration, and inviting the crowd to sing along.

Seger remains in excellent voice, and performs well on both guitar and piano. The gray haired bandleader grinned from ear-to-ear as he performed 25 songs in total. Truth be told, Seger could have played a third set as “Still the Same,” “Feel Like a Number,” “Like A Rock,” “Heavy Music,” “Fire Lake,” “You’ll Accompany Me,” “Betty Lou’s Getting’ Out Tonight,” “Let It Rock” and “Get Out of Denver” were all left off the set list.

What did make the set list were nearly two-dozen classic songs, many of which this writer was pleasantly surprised to see performed. To the utter delight of his hardcore fans, Seger paid a lot of attention to his earliest days as he trotted out “Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man,” “Travelin’ Man,” “Beautiful Loser,” “Nutbush City Limits,” “Come To Papa,” “Sunspot Baby” and “Katmandu.” When all was said and done Seger performed six songs from his classic albums Night Moves and Against the Wind and four from Beautiful Loser.

Seger is not a one-man show, far from it. He owes a huge debt of gratitude to the Silver Bullet Band. Chris Campbell has been playing with Seger since 1969, and the two men don’t even need to look at each other to know what the other is going to do next. Drummer Don Brewer, from Grand Funk Railroad, played his arse off from the opening beat of “Roll Me Away” to the last note of “Rock n’ Roll Never Forgets.” Craig Frost, a member of the band since 1980, smiled the entire night as he banged away on his keyboards, while Tulsa born and raised Mark Chatfield performed well for his family and friends. Jim “Moose” Brown split his time between guitar and keyboards, while Alto Reed stole the show every time he took center stage with his leg-wiggling, virtuosic saxophone playing.

Backing up the band were the Motor City Horns: John Rutherford, Mark Byerly, Keith Kaminski and Bob Jensen. The four white boys put the funk into Seger’s more soulful numbers and entertained the crowd with their rhythmic horn antics. Shaun Murphy, Barbara Payton and Laura Creamer added the background vocals and percussion. When Seger announced it was Creamer’s birthday, she hid her face in her hands in embarrassment but managed to acknowledge the crowd with a wave.

Highlights of the evening were many, but during the poignant “Turn the Page,” one couldn’t help get swept up in the moment as all in attendance sang every word in tandem with Seger. The encore of “Against the Wind” and “Hollywood Nights” had the crowd singing loudly as well. When the band returned for the final two songs, “Night Moves” and “Rock n Roll Never Forgets,” it was clear that we had witnessed a very special evening of music.

While Seger has enjoyed an amazingly successful career, he still can be described as the underdog. His contemporaries, including Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan and Neil Young, get many more accolades as great American songwriters, yet on this night Seger proved he deserves to stand proudly next to these iconic musical craftsmen. Seger effortlessly mixes rock, soul, funk, country, blues and pop, making his music relatable to anyone who hears it.

Bob Seger does not often tour, which makes each of his performances special. As he treks across the USA this year, Classic Rock Revisited highly recommends all who read this article to attend. For in the back of your mind, you know Seger has a slew of great songs, but once you are in the arena, listening to them being performed with such precision, you will realize that great rock n’ roll truly never does forget. And you can rest assured that both you, and Seger, will leave that night with huge smiles on each other’s faces.

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