POP MUSIC REVIEW : SEGER OFFERS NEW REASONS TO BELIEVE

It’s like a full-force gale . . . An American storm. --Lyrics by Bob Seger

Who said rock ‘n’ roll was just a young man’s game?

Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band played for two hours with such blistering determination and drive Monday night at the Forum that the lines from “American Storm” seemed like a description of the band itself.

Though he has been playing in bands since 1966, Seger, 41, still exhibits the intensity and celebration on stage of a musician who is just beginning to explore his rock ‘n’ roll dreams. You never get the feeling that he accepts the fact that his best show may be behind him.

As an isolated event, Seger’s two-hour program --the first of three nights at the Forum--would be an endearing example of a veteran rocker’s continuing passion.

Yet, the evening was the latest in a series of invigorating concerts by long-time rock stars, including Neil Young, 41, Bob Dylan, 45, and John Fogerty, 41. The important thing is, these musicians are continuing to expand their art.

Still, there is clearly a difference in seeing a show by a highly regarded artist, like Seger, whose style has been familiar to the audience for years, and seeing an exciting newcomer, say U2 or the BoDeans, whose approach is still unfolding.

With the newcomers, the chance to see songs performed for the first time gives the shows an extra, rewarding edge. With the veterans, the concert, much like sporting events, may last two hours or more, but victory often depends on a couple of crucial moments.

The veterans can’t simply play the old songs well; at some point during the night, they’ve got to give the audience new reasons to believe in them, if the concerts are to avoid becoming merely exercises in nostalgia.

Seger opened Monday with a new song, “American Storm,” but he then settled into a survey of his work--from spirited, blue-collar workouts like “Makin’ Thunderbirds” through melancholy ballads such as “Main Street.”

Two things helped keep the momentum going: the quality of the material and the dynamics of the eight-piece band. In many ways, Seger is the dean of the lyric-conscious school of working-class American rockers who gained national attention in the 1970s. His best songs, including “Night Moves” and “Against the Wind,” are heartfelt expressions of the search for innocence and integrity in a world where both qualities seem in short supply.

Like Fogerty’s music, Seger’s best songs are highly accessible, roots-rock works with a timeless, often graceful Everyman edge that would enable them to fit comfortably into any decade in rock. And, like Springsteen’s music, there is a tension between the idealism that Seger searches and the pitfalls in realizing the dreams.

Seger’s band is his most explosive yet. It may have been more exciting hearing many these songs the first time around, but it is questionable they were ever given more full-bodied arrangements.

Still, the heart of the concert boiled down to a couple of key numbers--times when Seger reached out with a song and a vocal intensity that gave the night its own individual edge.

The first was “Like a Rock,” the title track from the new album. The joke with Seger is that he uses the same melodies and themes so frequently that it’s hard to tell the difference between new songs and old ones. But it’s wrong to think that he is merely singing the same songs over and over. There are similar musical elements and themes, but there is also fresh perspective.

“Like a Rock” is about remembering lost idealism and trying to recapture it, and Seger sang it with the soft, yet determined grace of a man giving thanks for his own convictions, yet aware of the dangers that allow them to slip away.

Later, Seger turned to “Sometimes,” another song from the new album--but one that addresses the same idealism with more confidence and upbeat resolve:

I want to leave behind this hopeless maze

Of broken dreams and endless days

I want to wake up someplace far away

I wanna wake up to a brand-new day.

Seger knows there is no final victory for the artist, only a continuing struggle to redefine and reveal. If the revelations don’t come as fast, the questions may simply not be as simple. That is one of the lessons being outlined by this crop of veteran rockers. The answers (about life) that once seemed so clear in rock’s infancy have proven more complex. This is the first generation of rockers to realize that.

Besides the Forum shows, Seger will be at the San Diego Sports Arena on Jan. 19.

Monday’s show was opened by the Georgia Satellites, a likeble quartet from (you guessed it) Georgia whose “Keep Your Hands to Yourself” was a delightful year-end hit and is representative of the band’s good-natured, roots-conscious bar-room approach.