Bob Seger Retires A Mainstay [VIDEO]

I can remember an interview amid a tour in 2006, where he flatly stated that "Still The Same", a fan favorite, would no longer be performed live.

Something about that it didn't translate well live and that it sounded dated to it's composer.

When you think about it, it's rare that a major performer will 1) cheery pick publicly their set list: that's what you have fanatics and the internet for and 2) openly admit they just can't pull the song off anymore.

Bob Seger admits that age and smoking have rendered some key songs of his off limits when he kicks off his latest tour tomorrow night (November 2nd) in Ypsilanti, Michigan.

"We tried 'Like A Rock' real hard. It's. . . I just can't do that song because the last two choruses are so high. They're right in the same key of the highest part of 'Turn The Page' -- which I still do in the same key that the record is, 'Turn The Page.' But the highest part of 'Turn The Page,' which is at the very end. Both those choruses on 'Like A Rock,' the two final choruses are(laughs) and Don kinda looked at me, like, 'We don't have to do this song' (laughs) Y'know, Don Brewer was having mercy on me! (laughs) I said, 'Yknow, you're right Don, let's not do this song.'"

A song I didn't expect to hear when I sat main floor at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul last May; I had come to believe that he either/or didn't think it a strong live number or didn't care for the fact that it was now so strongly identified with Chevrolet's truck campaign from a few years ago.