Decades after he first stepped onto a Detroit stage, Ted Nugent may have played his final concert here.
On a fittingly lightning-streaked Friday night in Sterling Heights, the 75-year-old Detroit native offered a dependably high-octane set of testosterone-fueled rock for a packed Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre.
And there was the obligatory political orating, including sharply worded attacks on President Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. The stage included a pair of banners featuring silhouetted AR-15s and the inscription “I WILL NOT COMPLY.”
As always with a Nugent homecoming show, the evening came steeped in Michigan flavor, from the state flag that joined an American one onstage to the pre-show warmup music that featured songs by Bob Seger, Kid Rock, Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels and more. The stage backdrop featured Nugent’s familiar logo alongside the phrase “Detroit Muscle.”
Since announcing his Adios Mofo ’23 farewell tour in the this spring, Nugent hasn’t announced a definitive end date, saying that while he’s not done with music, he is certainly winding down his road career. “A hotel room is jail for me,” he said in April.
So as things stand, Friday’s Sterling Heights show and Wednesday’s stop in Saginaw would be Nugent’s final Michigan tour dates.
He didn’t acknowledge that possibility onstage Friday, and in fact claimed he’s having a blast performing.
“I’ve been doing this since I was born in Detroit, and funny thing is, man, I enjoy it now more than ever,” he said. “I’m an old (guy), but I persevere.”
Friday’s set list stuck to the script of Nugent’s shows in recent years, kicking off with his instrumental performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner” before focusing on the guitar-heavy ‘70s stuff that made his name, punctuated by his distinctive molten solos full of fast-bending notes and searing tones. If Nugent is indeed ready to take his final onstage bow, it’s not because his guitar playing is suffering.
The night’s only latter-day number — “Come and Take It” from last year’s “Detroit Muscle” album — was refitted into a “F— Joe Biden” chant.
Nugent dropped the Tarzan entrances and onstage buffalos years ago, but his natural-born showman was nevertheless on display Friday, even if most of the energy was now channeled to his guitar playing and lively between-song chatter.
Armed with his trusty ’62 Gibson Byrdland guitar (built in Kalamazoo, as he pointed out), Nugent was joined by 28-year-old Fraser native Jason Hartless on drums and by bassist Johnny Schoen, who also provided backing vocals and took lead on the more demanding lines of “Stranglehold.”
It wouldn’t be a Nugent appearance in 2023 without some incendiary political pronouncements, though he saved them Friday for late in the show.
Nugent, who in recent years has sparked more headlines for his outspoken conservative views than for his music, got on a roll.
If people had heeded his political guidance all these years, he said to cheers, Joe Biden would be in “a straitjacket in a cage” and Hillary Clinton would be in front of “a firing squad.”
Nugent had profane epithets for political leaders in Washington and Lansing, and spoke of “jackbooted thugs in the government and the media.”
“It’s so good to see my crowd here — there’s only men and women here tonight,” he said in a clear reference to the rise in non-binary gender identification. “That’s so beautiful: the men and the women.”
Nugent saluted the military members and law-enforcement officers in the audience while encouraging them to push back: “If you’re a sheriff deputy, if you’re a city cop, if you’re a state trooper, if you’re in the military, and your boss tells you to do something against your oath, arrest that m—–f—–.”
And he defended his frank approach.
“I’ve always been a big mouth, because I’m a free American,” Nugent said. “And all Americans ought to be just like me.”
The 90-minute show featured the Nugent staples: “Motor City Madhouse,” “Free-For-All,” “Wang Dang Sweet Poontang,” “Cat Scratch Fever,” “Strangehold.” “Snakeskin Cowboys” offered a slinky feel and expressive guitar solo, while “Hey Baby” came with its own changeup groove, with the Amboy Dukes’ “The Great White Buffalo” eventually ending the regular set.
Contact Detroit Free Press music writer Brian McCollum: 313-223-4450 or [email protected].
