Bob Seger has announced some dates for spring tour, with shows in Michigan and Ohio – plus Buffalo – so far. Reportedly, Seger told his people to get shows booked on short notice – because he wants to play. He has a new album about halfway finished, according to rollingstone.com.
Tickets went on sale today for the first four shows, and all sold out, including the March 31 Toledo show, selling out in six minutes, and the second show added. Grand Rapids sold out in eight minutes.
Seger came through Indianapolis in 2007 after his Face the Promise release, and rocked a packed Conseco Fieldhouse – one of the best shows I’d seen in a while, and a nice surprise. My bet? Indy will be on the new schedule.
TOUR (as of February 12)
Mar 26 Huntington Center Toledo OH
Mar 29 Dow Event Center Saginaw M
Mar 31 Huntington Center Toledo OH
April 2 Van Andel Arenaa Grand Rapids MI
Apr 5 US Bank Arena Cincinnati OH
Apr 7 Quicken Loans Arena Cleveland OH
Apr 9 HSBC Arena Buffalo NY
Bob Seger
Remember Them? Detroit's Rockets Return
There once was, and is again, a rock and roll band from Detroit called The Rockets. A helluva rock band. No big hits, but Detroit rock radio embraced them, and they were local heroes from 1972 until they faded away in 1983.
The pedigree that made them noteworthy were two leaders that were driving forces behind the Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels. Johnny (Bee) Badanjek (drums) and Jim McCarty (guitar) both fueled the R&B rock and roll craziness of Ryder’s sound, and, as musicians do, eventually left the band to do their own thing.
They became the Rockets.
You could have dubbed them “Kings of the Openers”; they opened for the big rock bands of the time – and not just in Detroit. They traveled with KISS, Seger, ZZ Top, among many. But they never could get any bigger than that. Never had a big radio hit beyond the Motor City. But even the band’s later stuff , like “Rollin’ By The Record Machine” elicited a vintage Bob Seger energy.
With lead vocalist Dave Gilbert, the Rockets reached their biggest success in 1979 with a Top 40 hit doing a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Oh Well”. The hard partying Gilbert ended up taking a job hanging drywall, and died in 2001 at age 49.
Badanjek is one of rocks truly great drummers. And McCarty an engaging, gritty rock guitarist. They had continued to play music, just not together. That changed when they formed the Motor City Music Review in 2009, a Motown/rock and roll cover-type band. Then into a band called the Hell Drivers, with new frontman Jim Edwards. Things started to happen.
Promoters in Detroit and Flint and Toledo started to call. How about a Rockets show? So they morphed back into The Rockets. And if the story ended here, with the band playing bars in Detroit, it would still be good, right?