Bill Blackwell on 50 Years as Bob Seger's Tour Manager | Living for the City Full Interview
Living for the CityShow Notes
Bill Blackwell has been Bob Seger's tour manager for 50 years, a career that puts him at the center of Detroit's rock and roll story from the sock hops of the late 1960s through stadium tours decades later. This is his full conversation with host Hanif Abdurraqib.
Blackwell traces Seger's regional grind, driving through the night to play shows in Florida for a broken record. He recounts the electric night Live Bullet was recorded at Cobo Hall, and the Pontiac Silverdome show that turned 80 people in Chicago into 80,000 fans almost overnight. He talks about the vanished Detroit venues that shaped the city's live music scene, and his own start as a college entertainment director booking Ted Nugent and the Pretty Things. And he explains why Seger always closed the show, even when Peter Frampton's team pushed for top billing weeks before Frampton Comes Alive turned Frampton into a superstar.
He also tells the story of the Canadian customs officer who pulled him and Seger off a routine border crossing just to get his Live Bullet album autographed. He remembers caddying for Seger's celebrity golf round with Tiger Woods at the Buick Open. And he explains how a 90-minute soundcheck before every single show became the standard, one that never changed no matter how big the tours got.
CHAPTERS
00:25 - First Time Seeing Bob Seger: The 1969 Sock Hop and the Regional Grind
03:33 - Recording Live Bullet at Cobo Hall and the Night That Changed Everything
06:41 - The Work Ethic: 90-Minute Soundchecks and "Making It Right for the Fans"
10:09 - Detroit's Lost Venues and the College Booking Days
13:56 - Staying Rooted in Detroit: Auto Worker Paydays and "The Fans Own 80 to 85% of the Setlist"
18:31 - Golfing With Tiger Woods at the Buick Open
23:11 - The Frampton Negotiation and a Drummer's Emergency Flight
25:33 - December 1975: The Month Everything Changed
28:00 - Punch, Coral Gables, and 50 Years on the Road With Bob
30:06 - Crossing the Canadian Border and Night Moves Blowing Up
LINKS
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@LivingfortheCityPod
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5KYTveuTY4nydCKG8yTxjJ?si=c184740e2d9f43b5
Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/living-for-the-city/id1895831267
Stay connected!
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/livingforthecitypod/
TAGS / KEYWORDS
Bill Blackwell, Bob Seger, Bob Seger tour manager, Live Bullet, Detroit rock history, Cobo Hall, Pontiac Silverdome, Bob Seger Tiger Woods, Peter Frampton, Frampton Comes Alive, Detroit music history, Night Moves, Stranger in Town, Ramblin Gamblin Man, Detroit venues, Living for the City podcast, Hanif Abdurraqib, Side Stage Network, Live Nation podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
More from Living for the City
Andrey Douthard is the founder of Paramita Sound, the Detroit record shop and collective that opened in 2014 and became a meeting place for the city's hip hop, electronic, and jazz artists. This is his full conversation with host Hanif Abdurraqib.
Liz Warner is an award-winning journalist and the host of Alternate Take on WDET, Detroit's NPR affiliate, where she explores music and culture in the city's most freewheeling register. This is her full conversation with host Hanif Abdurraqib.
Don Was is a Detroit native who went from playing bar gigs and gypsy weddings around the city to producing the Rolling Stones, Bonnie Raitt, and Bob Dylan, and eventually running Blue Note Records. This is his full conversation with host Hanif Abdurraqib.
Guilty Simpson is a Detroit MC and one of the few artists J Dilla chose to build an entire album around, a rapper whose commitment to craft and storytelling represents the city's hip hop underground at its most rigorous. This conversation was recorded in Detroit on what would have been J Dilla's birthday. This is his full conversation with host Hanif Abdurraqib.
Isiah Thomas is a Basketball Hall of Famer and the captain of the Detroit Pistons' "Bad Boys," the back-to-back champions who played the game their own way and never apologized for it. This conversation goes far beyond basketball. This is his full conversation with host Hanif Abdurraqib.