Bob Seger performs during a 2006 concert at Van Andel Arena.I am forever grateful for Bob Seger’s last concert here.
Images of that special night — Nov. 8, 2006, at Van Andel Arena — come flooding back to me whenever I hear a Seger anthem on local FM radio. The first notes of “Roll Me Away” or “Main Street” transport me to the opening performance of the 65-year-old Michigan rock icon’s last tour and one of the happiest moments of my life, because I shared the experience with my 18-year-old nephew, Patrick.
It ended up being the last time we did anything together.
Our shared passion for all sorts of music, especially live performances, brought us together for a concert that, for me, became a rite of passage as I introduced Patrick to a huge part of the soundtrack from my childhood. I was born and raised in metropolitan Detroit, and had seen Seger perform while I was in college. I grew up listening to 1976’s “Live Bullet” album on 8-track tape, sneaking it from my older brother’s room whenever he left the house so I’d be able to memorize the lyrics and sing along to “Turn the Page.”
I picked up Patrick, a college freshman, in front of his dorm on that unforgettable afternoon almost 4½ years ago.
He had just started at Western Michigan University in the fall and had aspirations of being an aerospace engineer. I called and reminded him the night before the concert to make sure he finished his homework before I got to Kalamazoo the following day, and he assured me he’d be prepared for it. We rode back together in my car, singing along to Seger CDs on the short trip to Grand Rapids.
PatrickA few hours later, after the opening act left the stage, he turned to me with a big smile on his face and remarked: “Um, Uncle Brian, I think I’m the youngest person here.” We both had a good laugh.
Once Seger hit the stage, Patrick became an instant admirer.
I drove him back to college following the concert, listening to more Seger music blaring from the stereo, and we made tentative plans to get together during Christmas break and see a movie.
Thirty-seven days later, Patrick was gone.
He died in a car accident on his return home following a concert in Detroit that he’d attended with a couple of former classmates from Orchard Lake St. Mary’s Preparatory High School in Oakland County. Ironically, the accident happened at an intersection in Independence Township, not far from where Seger resides.
At my nephew’s funeral Mass, I asked St. Mary’s chancellor, Father Tim Whalen, for whom Patrick had been an altar server all four years of high school, if we could play Seger’s “Wait for Me” during communion. He agreed after listening to the song — which appeared on “Face the Promise,” the album Seger released just before that 2006 tour — and contemplating the meaning of these lyrics:
In the cool of the night
In the heat of the day
If you're ever in doubt
I'll be on my way
Straight to your side I guarantee
I'll be around
If you'll wait for me
I eulogized Patrick and shared stories about his passions for simple pleasures, but especially his appreciation for all forms of music. I reflected on just how fortunate I felt to be able to spend one last night attending one last concert with Patrick.
The Seger influence didn’t end there.
Rocker Bob Seger performs tonight in front of an enthusiastic sold-out crowd at The Dow Event Center in Saginaw.
In the difficult week that followed Patrick’s funeral, a close friend, local radio executive Matt Hanlon, made a phone call that resulted in an incredible act of kindness. Hanlon, who had met Patrick several times during my nephew’s weeklong summer visits to West Michigan since age 4, contacted Seger’s long-time manager, Punch Andrews, to see about getting a pair of tickets to the run of late-December concerts at The Palace of Auburn Hills that had long since been sold out.
Hanlon told me he hoped it might offer some comfort to Patrick’s parents.
I surprised my brother, Garry, and sister-in-law, Mary Beth, with the tickets at Christmas. Together, they experienced the same sort of unforgettable night Patrick and I had shared just a month earlier.
I didn’t know if I could handle seeing Seger again.
I made plans over the weekend, however, to share another Seger experience Saturday night at Van Andel Arena with my best friend’s 14-year-old son, C.J., who, as it turns out, has the same passion for music that Patrick did.
I’ll be sitting in the same seats as last time for this performance.
And, no doubt, like so many Seger fans, I’m sure my nephew is going to be right there singing along with us.