Bill Blackwell on 50 Years as Bob Seger's Tour Manager | Living for the City Full Interview

2026-09-16 · 38 min · episode 19 · 14 entities

episode page audio

Asserted relationships

→ appeared on Living for the City podcast

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evidence rules-v5
Bill Blackwell on 50 Years as Bob Seger's Tour Manager | Living for the City Full Interview
→ hosted by Side Stage person

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Feed author/publisher: Side Stage
→ discusses Music concept

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Feed category: Music
→ discusses Music Commentary concept

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Feed category: Music Commentary
→ discusses Music Interviews concept

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Feed category: Music Interviews
→ discusses Music History concept

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Feed category: Music History
→ references @LivingfortheCityPod website

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evidence rules-v5
Link in episode "Bill Blackwell on 50 Years as Bob Seger's Tour Manager | Living for the City Full Interview": https://youtube.com/@LivingfortheCityPod

Entities found in this episode

concepts 8

mentioned Music Commentary concept

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evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Music Commentary
mentioned Music Interviews concept

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evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Music Interviews
mentioned Music History concept

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evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Music History
mentioned Living for the City Full Interview concept

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evidence rules-v5
Bill Blackwell on 50 Years as Bob Seger's Tour Manager | Living for the City Full Interview
discusses Music concept

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evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Music
discusses Music Commentary concept

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evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Music Commentary
discusses Music Interviews concept

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evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Music Interviews
discusses Music History concept

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evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Music History

persons 3

mentioned Side Stage person

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evidence rules-v5
Feed author/publisher: Side Stage
mentioned Bill Blackwell person

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Bill Blackwell on 50 Years as Bob Seger's Tour Manager | Living for the City Full Interview
hosted by Side Stage person

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evidence rules-v5
Feed author/publisher: Side Stage

websites 2

mentioned @LivingfortheCityPod website

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evidence rules-v5
Link in episode "Bill Blackwell on 50 Years as Bob Seger's Tour Manager | Living for the City Full Interview": https://youtube.com/@LivingfortheCityPod
references @LivingfortheCityPod website

0.38

evidence rules-v5
Link in episode "Bill Blackwell on 50 Years as Bob Seger's Tour Manager | Living for the City Full Interview": https://youtube.com/@LivingfortheCityPod

podcasts 1

appeared on Living for the City podcast

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evidence rules-v5
Bill Blackwell on 50 Years as Bob Seger's Tour Manager | Living for the City Full Interview

Episode description as stored

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