FOREIGNER Announces 40th Anniversary Tour Details: Billboard Exclusive

That 70s Guy

Super Moderator
Staff member
Super Moderator
Joined
Jan 21, 2010
Posts
18,211
Reaction score
10,274
Location
Nova Scotia Canada
melodicrock.com

foreigner-2014.jpg


From Billboard: http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/rock/7647862/foreigner-40th-an...
Foreigner plans to make this year's 40th anniversary summer tour "a family affair" according to group founder Mick Jones -- including the other acts on the bill and the return of some prodigal sons.
The group kicks things off June 11 in Syracuse with longtime pals Cheap Trick and former drummer Jason Bonham and his band. And Mick Jones tells Billboard that original Foreigner members Lou Gramm, Ian McDonald and Al Greenwood will be appearing on select dates. "They're not on the whole tour, but there will be some appearances," Jones says. "It's the right time to do this. I'm looking forward to that and we'll see how it goes, and I'm sure it'll go down well."
The reunions will certainly be a highlight during a busy anniversary year for Foreigner. The group will be touring extensively; In addition to the summer dates -- 37 dates running through Sept. 9 in Auburn, Wash. (tickets go on sale Jan. 13 via Live Nation — Music & Live Events | Concert Tickets, Tour News, Venues) -- the group is also playing U.S. dates starting Jan. 30, with a European tour beginning May 20 in Switzerland. A two-disc, 40-track anniversary compilation with some brand new material is planned, while Jones will be publishing his memoir, A Foreigner's Tale, due out this spring.
"I could never have dreamed this would happen or that we would still have some kind of relevance 40 years later. It's unbelievable, really," says Jones, who formed Foreigner during 1976 in New York, releasing its first album a year later. "I think it's fitting at this point that we do this. I'm very proud of everything we've done and what we've achieved, and of how the new band [lineup] has fought back for me and for the heritage of Foreigner. It's kind of the way I always dreamed that Foreigner would appears, as a very exciting live band and everything that goes along with it. It's really been very inspiring for me."
The compilation album, meanwhile, will precede the tour, adding a new recording of "The Flame Still Burns," a song Jones wrote for the 1998 film Still Crazy (the group has already released a video for the song), along with "a few others in the offing, another [new] song that we're working on right now, and then all the greatest hits and more."
 

That 70s Guy

Super Moderator
Staff member
Super Moderator
Joined
Jan 21, 2010
Posts
18,211
Reaction score
10,274
Location
Nova Scotia Canada
ultimateclassicrock.com

Mick-Jones-and-Lou-Gramm-Photo.jpg

Lou Gramm is denying published reports that he will join Foreigner on select upcoming 40th anniversary tour dates.

“I have not been asked to join any part of the summer 40th Foreigner anniversary tour,” Gramm wrote on Twitter. Ultimate Classic Rock reached out to Foreigner’s team for a comment and will update this story when they respond.

Billboard reported that a trio of Foreigner’s original members, including Gramm, would join the band this summer. Cheap Trick and former drummer Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Experience share the bill, which reportedly would also feature guest turns by Gramm’s fellow departed Foreigner co-founders Ian McDonald and Al Greenwood.

Gramm is also firing back at another recent story that seems to confirm his imminent retirement. He’s quoted by the Democrat and Chronicle as saying “I’m tired of the business. It’s time to hang up the mic.” Gramm has since called that report “lies.”

LIES https://t.co/t2XcTG1lBJ

— Lou Gramm (@GrammLou) January 9, 2017

In the same piece, Gramm says he received a call from co-founding Foreigner guitarist Mick Jones‘ manager, who said there had been “some kind of mix-up,” and that Jones hadn’t meant to indicate that Gramm would be joining his old band for some concerts this year.

Foreigner’s summer tour kicks off on July 11 and includes nearly 40 stops. Jones told Billboard that a two-disc, 40-track compilation featuring some new material is also set for release this year, along with his memoir, A Foreigner’s Tale.


Read More: Lou Gramm Says He Has 'Not Been Asked' to Join Foreigner's Summer Tour | Lou Gramm Says He Has 'Not Been Asked' to Join Foreigner's Summer Tour
 

That 70s Guy

Super Moderator
Staff member
Super Moderator
Joined
Jan 21, 2010
Posts
18,211
Reaction score
10,274
Location
Nova Scotia Canada
ultimteclassicrock.com


Lou Gramm Now Confirms He Will Join Foreigner’s Tour ‘For a Song or Two’


112144726.jpg

After initially contesting reports that he had been invited to reunite with Foreigner on their upcoming 40th anniversary tour, singer Lou Gramm says he and his fellow surviving founding bandmates will indeed rejoin the group’s current lineup “for a song or two” at an as-yet undetermined show.

“After 24 hours of some crossed wires and miscommunication, I can confirm that I and the rest of the original band have been invited to join Foreigner for a song or two at any show during this 40th anniversary year,” Gramm explained on Twitter. “[Drummer] Dennis Elliot and [bassist] Rick Wills will be in St. Augustine, FL on 2/24. [multi-instrumentalist] Ian McDonald, [keyboardist] Al Greenwood and I will perform on a date yet to be determined.”

Apart from a two-year break that started in 1990, Gramm served as Foreigner’s lead singer from their formation in 1976 until 2003. Kelly Hansen has fronted the group since 2005. Guitarist Mick Jones – who together with Gramm was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2013 – is the sole remaining founding member in the band’s current lineup.

Foreigner’s 40th anniversary tour – featuring support from Cheap Trick and Jason Bonham – kicks off July 11th in Syracuse, N.Y., and is currently scheduled to wind up Sept. 9 in Auburn, Wash. A two-disc, 40-track compilation featuring some new material is also set for release this year, along with Jones’ memoir, A Foreigner’s Tale.


Read More: Lou Gramm Now Confirms He Will Join Foreigner's Tour 'For a Song or Two' | Lou Gramm Now Confirms He Will Join Foreigner's Tour 'For a Song or Two'
 

Find member

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
31,574
Posts
1,126,091
Members
6,628
Latest member
Buckeye Randy

Members online

No members online now.
Top