Update On Bob Seger’s Recovery After Spinal Surgery
Bob Seger is hoping for a spring 2018 return to the road, according to a new interview with Billboard magazine.
Seger and his Silver Bullet Band had to postpone his Runaway Train Tour in September after playing just 13 of 33 scheduled dates due to a spinal condition that required surgery during October at University of Michigan hospital in Ann Arbor.
Seger tells Billboard he’s “about halfway through” his three-month recovery and says that, “The pain is down; I’d say it’s one out of 10, but it’s constant. It’s nagging, and unfortunately I can’t sing or play or lift anything more than five pounds, not over my head, until it’s gone. So it’s difficult to work out or anything. I can walk. That’s about it.”
Seger calls the enforced inactivity “maddening” but adds, “They warned me of this. They said it was going to really hurt for about three months afterwards, but the payoff is (the surgery) didn’t go anywhere near my larynx. They went in the back. so my voice is probably fine. So I think it’s going to be OK, I really do. But, God, it’s taking a long time…”
Seger says he hopes to be able to play shows again by “mid-March” but cautions that “this pain’s got to go away, so we can’t really book anything yet. They say, ‘We can’t guarantee it’ll ever go away,’ but that’s what doctors have to say. I think it’s gonna be OK, but if it doesn’t (go away), I’m done, dude.”
Despite the layoff Seger did release his new album, I Knew You When, on November 17 as planned: It debuted at No. 1 on the Top Current Rock Albums chart, No. 2 on the Top Rock Albums survey and No. 25 on the Billboard 200.
