A Boston man has gone viral for walking into bars, ordering a drink, and classifying them as Bob Seger-friendly or not.
Brian Daly has spent several months on the project, which started when a friend filmed him asking to hear Seger at Charlie’s Kitchen, a dive bar in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The bar was unable to comply, but the clip went viral, an idea was born, and Daly pivoted from reviewing local food outlets to dedicating his social media exploits to the search for bars happy to play the Detroit veteran.
“Bob Seger is absolutely timeless. He speaks for everybody,” Daly tells the Detroit News. “It’s working class, it’s the old guy sitting at the bar, reminiscing about the old times. Bob Seger has his own sound, and he’s developed his own messaging. He’s just a badass dude that any American can get behind.
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“When I think of Bob Seger, I think of driving to hockey practice as a second-grader, and my dad putting a Night Moves cassette in his truck. Seger reminds guys my age of being a kid, because our dads would play that stuff for us.”
Since Daly’s lightbulb moment, he’s asked the question, “Is it a bar… or is it a Seger bar?” at dozens of different venues, and now awards Seger Bar stickers and plaques to establishments that have complied with his requests. He’s even launched a range of merchandise, all of which is currently sold out.
In the few short months since that first film, Daly has been mentioned on the popular sports and pop culture show Bar Stool Sports, asked his Big Question at TD Garden – home of the NBA’s Boston Celtics – and at the 5000-capacity Veterans Memorial Stadium in Quincy, MA. He’s even filmed a Seger Bar segment with Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey.
“I said from the beginning, I won’t stop until I’m able to actually sit down with Bob Seger, ideally playing darts, hopefully having a beer,” says Daly. “People always ask, ‘What would you talk to him about?’ And I always say the same thing: ‘Absolutely nothing.’ I wouldn’t even mention the fact that I know who he is.
“I would just shoot the shit with him, and I wouldn’t even fan out to him. I would want the full guy-at-the-bar, random-conversation experience from Bob Seger. Until I get that, I’m not gonna stop.”
Brian Daly can be found on Instagram and TikTok. Bob Seger retired in 2019.