Sandra Sperounes reviews Bob Seger
Bob Seger With: Dallas Smith When: Saturday night Where: Rexall Place
Two nights before Bob Seger’s rescheduled show at Rexall Place, iPhones across Canada tried to play a practical joke on Edmonton.
Some of their weather apps started forecasting snow for May 11 — an eerie repeat of March 21, when he decided to postpone his gig due to a ridiculous snow storm, which caused more than 100 cars to crash on the QEII Highway.
Luckily, the only thing white on Saturday night was the colour of Seger’s hair — on which he wore a black sweatband. That thin piece of fabric was the one “costume change” in his no-nonsense, almost twohour show of classics from the ’70s and ’80s — from his cover of John Hiatt’s Detroit Made to Rock and Roll Never Forgets, the last song of Seger’s second encore.
Pyro, visuals and over-thetop poses weren’t a must for the 68-year-old rocker and his trusty Silver Bullet Band. As a dude who looks like an aging accountant (or a reformed bike gang member) with a slight paunch, the Detroit native preferred to rely on talent, passion and gratitude.
“Hope I didn’t cause you too much trouble,” he said, referring to Saturday’s rescheduled show (and his first Edmonton gig since opening for BTO in 1975). “I’m so glad you’re here.”
He didn’t blame the postponement on our crazy weather, but a bad cough — which was supposedly the reason for his last-minute decision to delay his March gig in Calgary. Hmm.
Not only did he quite possibly mix up his cities, he busted out some silly grandpa-at-- a-wedding moves — such as pointing at his pals, shimmying his shoulders and circling his fists, grinning like the happiest cat on the planet in the process. So he wasn’t much of a dancer (or a rememberer) — which only made him more endearing — but his warm and raspy pipes were stellar. You couldn’t always hear him well, if only because he was competing with two guitars, a piano, a bass, four horns, drums, three backup singers and various saxophones, one of which was nearly as tall as the musician playing it. But on some of his sparser tunes, such as Like a Rock, We’ve Got Tonight, Against the Wind and Night Moves — when it was just Seger on acoustic guitar or piano accompanied by one or two musicians — you could feel the true power of his voice.
With Old Time Rock and Roll, also known as the Tom Cruise/ Risky Business song, you could feel the true power of Seger’s contribution to the soundtrack of people’s lives. As soon as the rollicking piano intro kicked in, the arena moved a few inches as 14,000 fans realized what Seger was about to play.
He’s so old time, by the way, that he still invites journalists to his “after show” parties. He doesn’t attend them, mind you, but some of his musicians and diehard fans, including Ford Wong, were at a low-key backstage bash in Edmonton — nibbling on potato chips, sipping Stella and Bud, taking photos and talking about Seger.
“He makes meat ‘n’ potatoes music,” said one woman, enjoying an early Mother’s Day present. “His music is so filling. He plays all the hits and you don’t leave feeling hungry.”
The same can’t be said about MGMT, a psych-rock/synthpop band and the headliners of two sold-out Saturday shows at a downtown club, The Starlite Room. The fivesome played some of their more popular tunes, such as Electric Feel and Time To Pretend, but avoided their biggest hit. You know the one — Kids, a boppy synth-pop number with breezy vocals and a video starring a crying toddler taunted by monsters.
To make matters worse, vocalist/guitarist Andrew VanWyngarden and fellow MGMT founder Ben Goldwasser weren’t the most engaging performers. VanWyngarden hid behind his curly hair while Goldwasser ducked behind his synths and laptops for much of their 60-minute set.
VanWyngarden mumbled a few words between songs, but only came close to breaking his apathetic-hipster facade when a fan jumped on stage and politely hugged him during the first of the two shows.
As the fan fell back into a pit of people, MGMT’s frontman cracked a smile — making a real and rare connection with the crowd, albeit much too fleeting.
Sometimes the kids could really learn from the oldtimers.