DETROIT — The party was a little more intimate than the king-sized concert he threw in Detroit a decade ago.
But there was a big dose of goodwill as the Kid Rock marked his 50th birthday Sunday night during an online event, raising about $200,000 for a fund supporting restaurants and bars imperiled by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Streaming live for fans during a digital hangout, Rock was joined in person by a few dozen family members and friends — including Motley Crue’s Vince Neil, country stars Jake Owen and Jon Pardi, and former Detroit Red Wing Chris Chelios — for a celebration at his Cowboy Town ranch north of Nashville.
“I wish we were all rocking at Ford Field again. That was such a special time,” Rock said, citing the 40th-birthday show he staged for 60,000 people in 2011. “I can’t believe 10 freaking years have passed. 40 turned into 50 really fast.”
Two weeks after contributing $100,000 of his own to the Barstool Fund, a Barstool Sports campaign that has generated more than $27 million for ailing establishments, Rock encouraged viewers Sunday to donate if they had the means. Toward the end of the 75-minute stream, he said the evening’s total was closing in on $200,000.
Sunday’s birthday show was a last-minute affair, Rock said — conceived and quickly arranged in about a week. He warned early on the virtual event might be “a train wreck” as he confessed to being nervous and navigated a handful of technical glitches.
He had just made what he described as “the most politically incorrect entrance of all time,” arriving in a “Dukes of Hazzard”-inspired General Lee Dodge Charger with a Coors Light beer in hand.
But Kid Rock stressed he wouldn’t be talking politics on a night that ought to be focused on the “people have been struggling during this damn pandemic, this whole mess,” he said.
The night closed with a deep country-music dive by the “Batwitdaba” star: a fiddle-laced performance of Webb Pierce’s “I Aint Never.” He also gave an updated 50th-worthy take on John Eddie’s bawdy birthday song “Forty.”
The program also teemed with newsy nuggets, including updated info on Rock’s career plans.
He revealed he had hoped to release a 50-song “triple album” in 2021, made up of 10 hip-hop tracks, 10 country tracks, 10 rock tracks and 20 previously unreleased recordings. The album was to be followed by a 50-city tour kicking off at Detroit’s Ford Field, possibly his final major road outing.
Those plans were derailed by the pandemic shutdowns and have been pushed to 2022, Rock said.
While saying it will be probably be his last big tour, Rock emphasized he hesitates to bill it as a farewell run. Referencing the litany of broken goodbye promises from other rock acts over time, he said he doesn’t “want to sucker everybody in” if he were to head out again years later.
