Still the Same (Only Better)

By Tom Finkel Wed., Dec. 6 2006 at 2:41 PM

Clay Patrick McBride

If every life has a soundtrack, the ones for my family members would feature Bob Seger in heavy rotation. If we had a British nanny, it'd be Mary Poppins; The Sound of Music if a nun-in-training taught us how to sing. But no, we come from working-class Seger stock, and it was clear he understood at least this much about his fan base -- he kept every seat in the house at a reasonable $55 for Monday night's two-plus-hour concert at Scottrade Center. Though his long brown hair's long gone silver and he'd often swap out what should have been high notes for lower ones, he's otherwise -- yes -- still the same guy we remember from decades ago.

He name-checked St. Louis a couple of times and played Chuck Berry's "ï¿½'est La Vie" (woulda been really cool if he threw in Tina Turner's "Nutbush City Limits") but didn't make good on the bet that if St. Louis won the World Series, he'd don a Cardinals cap during "Beautiful Loser." But it was impossible to be disappointed in a show that encompassed so many career highlights: "Main Street," "Katmandu," "Turn the Page" and some twenty others went by in what could have been a crash course in classic-rock history.

After he dedicated songs to his kids -- he took ten years off touring to raise his family -- you ended up forgiving him for the whole Chevy "Like a Rock" ad campaign and instead admire his recent eco-friendly stance. Earth mother and model daddy? That's our Bob.