Foreigner Artpark Lewiston, NY 8/17/10

[rtbuck]

Foreigner
Venue: Artpark Lewiston, NY
Date: 8/17/2010
Review by Bucky


In 1977 a friend of mine introduced me to the debut album by Foreigner & I thought it was a great record. It was one of those albums that I couldn’t be satisfied playing 1 or 2 songs. I had to play the whole album. This continued for me on their next 3 albums: `Double Vision’, ‘Head Games’ & ‘Foreigner 4’ loving every track on those 3 albums. I seen them in concert twice during that era & both shows were phenomenal.

This past Tuesday at Artpark in Lewiston, NY Foreigner played to a packed venue of at least 15,000 fans & put on a spectacular show. Guitarist Mick Jones is the only original member from the original line-up but the current line-up is a fine group of musicians featuring ex Dokken bassist Jeff Pilson, Smashmouth drummer Jason Sutter, Thom Gimbel {who’s been in Foreigner since ’93 & also toured with Aerosmith as a keyboardist} on guitar, flute, & sax, Michael Bluestein on keyboards, & last but not least the amazing vocals of former hard rock band Hurricane lead singer Kelly Hansen.
The band rocked out on their opening tune from 1978 “Double Vision” & kept the pace going strong by immediately going into the title track from 1979’s ‘Head Games’ album which was followed by their hit single from 1977 “Cold as Ice”. Hanson introduced “Can’t Slow Down” from their latest album which continued to rock the outdoor venue before bringing the tempo down with “Waiting for a Girl Like You” causing guys & girls to hold onto one another & sing along. Hanson said they were going to play one more song from the new album & the band kept the tempo down & played “When it Comes to Love”. The band cranked it up again with a sizzling version of “Dirty White Boy” & then continued on with “That was Yesterday”. Up next was the highlight of the night for me as Hanson introduced founder & guitarist Mick Jones & Jones sang an incredible version of “Starrider” from their debut album with an unbelievable extended guitar solo. The band then played a series of hits featuring “Feels Like the First Time”, “Urgent”, a beautiful version of “I Want to Know What Love is” featuring the chorus of Wilson High School, & they closed out kicking ass on “Hot Blooded” before leaving the stage & returning for their encore which was an extended jamming version of “Jukebox Hero”.

Overall, Foreigner put on a great performance which kept the crowd singing, dancing, & rocking out for their entire 75 minute set.


Bucky

[Rocker440]

Great review, Bucky!

Bucky, with you having seen Foreigner during the 1970s and then again more recently, how would you rate the noticeable difference with the current members as opposed to the original band? This might not be a very fair question, or possible comparison in that some fans may not either see, nor have had the opportunity to experience the original band in concert, and then again some years later see an almost completely different line-up. I do think it is very interesting and great that the excellent, respectable musicians performing with Mick Jones are both very well experienced, top notch musicians, imo!

[rtbuck]

Thanks Rocker!!!

I seen Foreigner for the first time on the Head Games tour & the only original member that was gone by then was bassist Ed Gagliardi. I then seen them on the Foreigner 4 tour & by then original members Ian Macdonald & Al Greenwood were fired. So to answer your question, to me it didn't make much difference who was in the band as their songs sounded great. It was really the Mick Jones/Lou Gramm show by the times 'Head Games' rolled around anyway. Sure I would've loved to see Lou Gramm back in the band this time but Kelly Hansen sounded great & had a great stage presence so I really didn't miss Gramm. The new band sounded tight & from the response of the 15,000 fans I don't think hardly anyone realized that Jones was the only original member. I know there are probably hardcore fans out there that may say it's not the same but as far as me The original line-up wasn't missed.

[Rocker440]

^^^That's very interesting, Bucky! I've mostly felt that some of the original band members were pretty instrumental, no pun intended, with both the contributions to the earlier classic songs and music, but I've also wondered at times if some fans either notice any possible differences with the live performances when many, or perhaps all of the band members have changed. Although with some bands having changed personal over many years, I do think that the new musicians may well have a possible appeal in several ways. With some fans that might know of the other musicians work from previous, successful bands, and also fans of different styles becoming more interested with wanting to hear the combination of both the earlier classic Foreigner songs, and the newer material as well!

[rtbuck]

I didn't mean anything against the original members (such as Macdonald & Greenwood) because of course it would've been great with them but what I was trying to say is that from what I had read Gramm & Jones wanted to be the only ones calling the shots for the band so by the time Head Games came out it was already the Jones/Gramm band so they got rid of Greenwood & Macdonald so they could have more control. So by the time Foreigner 4 came out with all of those hit singles, the band was set as a hit singles band. They had 6 hits from 'Foreigner 4' & 7 or 8 hit singles form the first 3 records so to the fans of radio it really made no difference who was in the band. They were going to the shows to hear the hits & w/ 12 or 13 strong radio hits & that's all that mattered to those fans. Fast forward to 2010 at the show I seen & I bet more than 3/4 of the crowd never knew that Jones was the only original member (they probably even had no idea of the name Mick Jones, all they knew was the hit songs). That said, that's why it really didn't matter to me who was in the band. I knew I was going to get all the hit singles & not get "The Damage is Done" or "At War with the World" & the band did play those hits perfect.