Mainstreet

Bizarre as it may seem, I’m reviewing a rock concert that I attended forty-three years ago. Why am I reviewing it now? you may ask. One reason is that the Roll Me Away Tour will be the final tour for the band. I have often told people of my Bob Seger experience but I haven’t written about it or shared it with anybody but my friends. This is an attempt to remedy that situation.

Seger and The Silver Bullet Band achieved great popularity in the 1970s and 1980s with an earthy sound and lyrical themes rooted in the American Midwest. I bought their album Night Moves released in 1976 and nearly wore it out. Joel Goodson’s (Tom Cruise) dancing to Old Time Rock and Roll…  https://buff.ly/3yau1DZ  expresses the same ‘skin orgasm’ I get listening to many of the Seger hits. Like Tom Cruise, I have danced solo to Old Time Rock and Roll. Unlike him, I have never jumped on a couch to express my love for anybody. I attended the live concert, Against the Wind, at the Lansdowne Park Grandstand in Ottawa, Canada, on August 29, 1980. I realize that many of you weren’t born yet but please bear with me.

The Lansdowne Park Grandstand is a set of concrete bleachers used for the Ottawa Roughriders football games until 1996. We arrived at the concert early and watched Bob on the grass near the stage stretching and arching his back. Women behind us were going nuts. We heard “Oh, Bobbie, do that again.” As usual, he was dressed casually in jeans, a tee shirt, and a leather vest. Many music artists are known for lavish costumes, but, apart from groupies, fans go to Seger concerts primarily for the music.

Several songs into the set the entire crowd was on their feet and many of them were stomping to the beat of the music. I was scared that the bleachers would collapse, as they have in many parts of the world. Thankfully, this was not the case. The climax of the evening, for me at least, was part of the encore performance of Mainstreet, the second single from the album Night Moves. It has a haunting melody about a stage dancer. Some of the lyrics are as follows:

I remember standin’ on the corner at midnight
Tryin’ to get my courage up
There was this long, lovely dancer
in a little club downtown
Loved to watch her do her stuff
Through the long, lonely nights
She filled my sleep
Her body softly swayin’
To that smokey beat
Down on Mainstreet

Alto Reed, the saxophonist whose signature hooks and swashbuckling stage moves made him a star of Bob Seger’s Silver Bullet Band, features prominently in the song Mainstreet

At the back of the stage was a bank of speakers that I swear stood thirty feet high. After Bob starts to sing, a spotlight shines towards the heavens to reveal Alto Reed, bathed in pink light, standing atop the bank of speakers wailing on his sax. He looked like an angel.

“Oakland Press: BOB SEGER REMEMBERS ALTO REED, HIS “BOLD” AND “BRAVE” BANDMATE AND FRIEND https://buff.ly/3kqX2YR

“Bob Seger may be the leader of the Silver Bullet Band. But he maintains that flamboyant saxophonist Alto Reed “was our rock star.”

“The Detroit-born Reed (real name Thomas Neal Cartmell), died on Wednesday, Dec. 30, at the age of 72 from colon cancer. He played with Seger since the early ’70s and was part of the original Silver Bullet lineup in 1974, appearing on 14 studio albums and two live sets.”

“Statement from Bob on the passing of Alto Reed:

“It is with a heavy heart that we inform you of the passing of our lifelong friend and bandmate, Alto Reed. Alto passed away this morning at his home with his family by his side after fighting a courageous battle with colon cancer.

“Alto has been a part of our musical family, on and off stage, for nearly 50 years. I first started playing with Alto in 1971. He was amazing – he could play just about anything…he was funky, could scat and play tenor sax and alto sax at the same time.

“We worked with Alto often and when we booked our first headline arena gigs at Cobo Arena, we asked him to be a part of those shows. No doubt his iconic performance on Turn The Page helped lift us to another level. He has been with us on that stage virtually every show, ever since. And whether it was Turn The Page, Mainstreet, or Old Time Rock And Roll, audiences roared every time he played his part. In our band, Alto was the rock star.”

In conclusion, I would have liked to say, If you ever have the opportunity to see this band in person I highly recommend that you do so. Unfortunately, that is no longer possible. An era of rock and roll music has ended.