A Bob Seger tribute band will be making some “Night Moves” “down on ‘Main Street’” in Villa Rica on June 3, when the city’s 2023 summer concert series gets underway.
Hollywood Nights – The Bob Seger Experience will be the headlining act for the first of four free downtown concerts. The New Jersey-based group promises to make sure that fans’ memories of The Silver Bullet Band will be “Still the Same” as from the 1970s.
The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. at The MILL Amphitheater, 106 Temple St. And if you come wearing your diamonds and frills, just remember that the show at the outdoor venue will take place rain or shine. While the concert is free, seats closer to the stage can be reserved through freshtix.com.
The band calls itself the “ultimate tribute” to Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band, which spun a series of iconic hits throughout the 1970s and early 1980s. Seger, who had made a local name for himself in Detroit, was not well known outside the Motor City until he assembled the Silver Bullet Band and they toured the country for their 1975 debut album “Beautiful Loser.”
The album wasn’t a success – but the tour was, creating a grassroots following. In 1976, “Live Bullet,” a double album recorded in Detroit, spent over three years on the U.S. Charts, eventually going to quadruple platinum.
Their next album, Night Moves, also recorded in 1976, became a blockbuster, generating the hit singles “Night Moves,” and “Main Street.” In 1978, the album Stranger in Town was just as successful, with “Still the Same,” “Hollywood Nights,” “We’ve Got Tonight,” and “Old Time Rock and Roll.” The string of hits continued into 1980, when Against the Wind became the band’s first number one album, and spun off the hits “Fire Lake” and the title track, “Against the Wind.”
“Hollywood Nights,” the tribute band, is led by Rick Murphy. In an interview earlier this year with Philadelphia rock station WMGK, Murphy said that the band’s intent is to faithfully recreate the Silver Bullet’s Band’s sound.
“It’s just a cool group of people who really care about playing it verbatim, you know, doing everything exactly by the album,” Murphy told the station. “Because if you’re not (going to) do it by the album then I don’t know if you really can call yourself a tribute band, you know what I mean?”
The nine-member group also includes Roger Mancini on organ and guitar; Alec Hay on piano; Frank Pagano on bass and vocals; Chris Uyvari, lead guitar, Matt Decarlo, drums; Chris Miley, sax, organ and guitar; and Robin Murphy and Treese Logan, backing vocals and percussion.
The June 3 show is sponsored by Jones-Wynn Funeral Homes and Crematory, the Law Offices of Julie C. Moore, Main Street Villa Rica and the City of Villa Rica.
Alcohol is only allowed at Main Street sponsored events when purchased within the downtown Entertainment District and placed in the plastic cup with the Main Street logo provided by the establishments within the district. Only six-can coolers are allowed at The MILL, and low-profile chairs and blankets can be set up on the day of the show.
