Blimp Time-Hop: A Sold-Out Night In 1980 With Bob Seger At CCCC

40 years ago today, Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band came to Portland and rocked a capacity crowd at the Civic Center. Against the Wind had been out since February of that year and remains Seger’s only Number 1 album ever.

It was on the top of the US chart for six weeks in 1980, initially moving Pink Floyd’s massive-selling, The Wall from the leading spot. Against the Wind also earned two Grammy Awards. Safe to say, this would’ve been a pretty amazing time to see Detroit’s favorite son here in Maine.

The audio on this 1980 live fan capture of Against the Wind is truly spectacular.

On this historic evening in Portland, Blimpsters heard great new songs live that they had been listening to on WBLM like You’ll Accomp’ny Me, Her Strut, and the title track.  Of course Bob and the band also treated us to 'already classics' like Turn the Page and Hollywood Nights.

This was Bob's third trip to Maine. His first appearance was at the Portland Expo 10 years earlier in September 1970 and a second happened at the Civic Center in 1978. The fourth concert here was at Bangor's Cross Insurance Center in November 2014.

Watch 1980's Her Strut from the last time Seger was in Maine for a live show near the mighty Penobscot in 2014.

Performances from his October 1980 3-night-stand in Boston (that happened shortly after the Portland show we are celebrating today) were featured on his classic live album, Nine Tonight.

Seger's final New England appearance was on October 24, 2019 at the Gahden in Boston. He has quite a history there having played the venue 11 times since 1978.