Tues. Nov. 29 

 Nostalgia is Bob Seger’s calling card. It’s not exactly a new arrow in his quiver. He was pushing it 35 years ago with “Night Moves” and “Rock and Roll Never Forgets,” and dinged a bell in mainstream America in 1978 with “Old Time Rock & Roll.” It was here that Seger declared that “today’s music ain’t got the same soul.”
    Away from the road for four years, he’s back on tour with that same message, churning out his brand of upbeat and/or wistful old-time rock ‘n’ roll. Seger, 67, played a two-hour-plus concert in April with his 13-piece Silver Bullet Band at the soldout TD Banknorth Garden. The results were mixed. He returns to the Bay State, Tuesday Nov. 29 at the DCU Center at 7:30. (This is culled from a review I did for the Boston Herald.)
    The blue-collar, heartland rocker has hinted this may be his final lap, recently telling his hometown paper the Detroit News, that “it’s time to go away and let the younger people take over.” Seger released his last album of new material, “Face the Promise,” in 2006, after an 11-year gap. He’s got a new single, Tom Waits’ “Downtown Train” (which he recorded in 1989, but didn’t release) and he is working on an album.
    Not surprisingly, Seger – who sang and played acoustic guitar and piano - stacked the two sets with tunes from his mid-‘70s/early-‘80s heyday, which meant you felt nostalgic about nostalgia.
    Seger’s beloved old time rock ‘n’ roll means mid-tempo rock that features a charismatic sax player (Alto Reed), a four-piece horn section and three female backup singers. Music that may suggest struggle or conflict, but lacks edge and has a “feelgood” stamp all over it.
    He pumped his fist a lot, but Seger was not particularly agile and his voice had a hoarseness to it that went beyond his trademark rasp. He’s certainly singing in a lower register. (He recently had the flu and had to cancel a show earlier this month.) The vocal mix was too often garbled - especially bad early on - and the sound uneven.
    Though Seger pushed the right buttons in songs like “The Fire Down Below,” “Main Street,” “Turn the Page” and “Katmandu,” there wasn’t much sense of urgency or passion. You always hope that what you hear in concert will surpass recorded versions and that didn’t happen.
     The second set was better than the first, in sound, pacing and song selection. Seger hit his stride during the encores, “Against the Wind,” “Hollywood Nights,” “Night Moves” and “Rock and Roll Never Forgets,” leaving, relatively speaking, on a high.
Tickets: $75 & $50.

50 Foster St., Worcester, 800-745-3000 www.ticketmaster.com