Bob Seger’s recent jam with Bruce Springsteen at Madison Square Garden was a long overdue reunion for the pair, who previously provided some unforgettable concert memories for Michigan concert-goers more than 30 years ago during Springsteen’s 1980 appearance in Ann Arbor at the Chrysler Arena.

The Ann Arbor date was the opening show for ‘The River’ tour, and Springsteen invited Seger to join him on stage with the E Street Band during their encore set, also asking what song he’d like to do with the band. Seger told Bruce that his number one choice was ‘Thunder Road’ – a song that Springsteen had already played earlier that night. Eager to accommodate his guest, Springsteen told Seger “we’ll just do it again!”

Seger told Detroit radio personalities Drew and Mike that he still has a cassette tape of the show, but says that a release is unlikely because he’s not sure that a higher quality tape exists.

During the conversation, Seger also revealed a surprising love of science and astronomy. Apparently, it’s a subject that captures a lot of his attention when he’s not making music: “It’s a nice change from music and it couldn’t be anything more different. I’ve got telescopes and I love studying the sky and just learning about physics and things of that nature, I don’t know why. For one thing, it gets the music out of my head. At night, I like to read a lot of science and it’s dry and hard to understand and it puts me to sleep!”

Seger says that the new album that he’s working on is about “half done” and although he doesn’t have an album title nailed down yet, he says that he’s “pretty happy with it” so far.

Listen to the complete interview, which includes further discussion about a number of topics, including the song selection process for the new ‘Ultimate Hits’ CD, and Seger’s memories of running into Tom Cruise at a roller rink.

Hear Bob Seger and Bruce Springsteen Perform ‘Thunder Road’

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