Review Music

Even 30 years ago, when he was a superstar in a world where rock-and-roll was a bigger cultural and commercial force, Bob Seger could sound like a man out of his time, a guy already feeling the weight of mortality.

Think of "Night Moves" or "Against the Wind," two hits whose autumnal air is closer to country fatalism than rock swagger. Or, at the other extreme, the reactionary railing of "Old Time Rock and Roll" - "Today's music ain't got the same soul."

Seger didn't write that last one, although he might as well have - it's hard to think of a rocker who better fits the song's sentiments. But by the time the 61-year-old Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and his Silver Bullet Band delivered the tune five songs into their scintillating show Thursday night at the far-from-sold-out Wachovia Spectrum, it was clear that while "old-fashioned" might apply, "relic" and "over-the-hill" did not.

What came to mind foremost was the description he gave to the wheels he sang about in 1982's "Makin' Thunderbirds" - "classic, in a word." This is a musical vehicle that, for all the miles on it, has stood the test of time magnificently.

Looking fit and energetic for his first tour in 10 years, the silver-haired Seger opened with "Roll Me Away," a mid-tempo song built on his basic sound of heavy rhythms, guitars, and graceful piano lines, with three female backup singers.

Befitting his Michigan heritage, however, his rock also contains heavy doses of soul and R&B, and that immediately became apparent when he brought out a four-man brass section, the Motor City Horns, to augment Silver Bullet sax man Alto Reed. The horns reappeared periodically throughout the night, putting an extra charge into numbers like "Horizontal Bop" and "Katmandu."

Seger included five songs from his strong new album, Face the Promise, but mostly he gave the fans what they wanted from his catalog of radio and concert favorites. The show moved along briskly - befitting his no-frills, working-class ethos, the band didn't indulge in any extended flashy solos. Rather it functioned as a finely tuned machine in the service of the songs, keeping the rockers hurtling along and providing spare atmospherics on the ballads. Seger's distinctive rasp, meanwhile, remains robust; it has taken on some deeper tones, but that has only made one of the great rock voices sound even better.

It was fitting that the night would end with a song about the music. "Rock and Roll Never Forgets" is another tune about getting older ("Now sweet 16's turned 31 . . ."). But with the rhythm section laying down that heavy beat, the guitarists firing off chunky riffs, the piano player pumping out a boogie woogie, the horn section driving, and the singers wailing - all threatening to blow the lid off the old arena - the music did what all the night's rockers did: rage, in a gloriously infectious and good-time fashion, against any dimming of the light.

And isn't that what rock-and-roll is all about?