Some of us expected it sooner, maybe to open the show, but it was not to be. Rather, Bob Seger held it back until the first song of his encore selections, when we knew he could not, would not omit this song, above all others.
So when he finally sang “Against the Wind,” he changed a lyric and sang “I’m still runnin’ against the Arkansas wind,” a fitting commentary on Tuesday night, when all 7,720 of us in North Little Rock’s Verizon Arena were doing that very thing, as rain pelted down and everyone knew that tornadoes lurked just over the horizon.
Fortunately, only the rain reminded musicians and fans alike of our mutual good fortune in surviving the experience, as Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band showed what it meant to have invented “arena rock” and then demonstrate it in, where else, a state-of-the-art arena.
And though he was a little raspy at times, Seger could still put on a stellar show, and a basic rock ‘n’ roll show it was, minus such frills as giant monitor screens and the ramps out into the audience that have become near obligatory at big concerts these days. There were some fine lights, however, proving that Seger had invested some of his earnings on more than just the payroll to keep a band of 13, sometimes 14, on stage.