Foreigner brings greatest hits to SPAC stage
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.»
Foreigner is celebrating its 40th anniversary in the Spa City next week on an upcoming local tour date.
Foreigner will perform on Tuesday, July 18 at Saratoga Performing Arts Center, on its 40th anniversary tour along with Cheap Trick and Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Experience.
With vocalist Kelly Hansen now fronting the band, Foreigner will play its hits from throughout the last four decades, including those its latest anniversary release 40 - songs such as “Feels Like The First Time,” “Cold as Ice” and “Jukebox Hero.”
For the group’s 1984 rock ballad “I Want To Know What Love Is,” Foreigner will also invite the Mayfield High School Choir on stage for some backup vocals.
The Weekender caught up with Hansen before Foreigner hit the road to hear about the band’s 40th year and plans for the future.
Q: What are you looking forward to about this upcoming 40th anniversary tour?
A: It’s really funny, when Foreigner did their first headlining tour back in 1977, or 78, we took Cheap Trick along and here we are 40 years later doing it again. I toured with Cheap Trick before I was in Foreigner and Foreigner of course had lots of shows with Cheap Trick back in the day, and this is really nice that we’re able to come back together and do this. And with Jason Bonham opening the show. Jason Bonham used to play drums with Foreigner when I joined in 2005. So it’s very much kind of an old family reunion kind of thing here. I think that it’s really great. I don’t know if people understand the fact that if there’s a really great vibe backstage with old friends and having a good time that it does translate onto the stage every night.
Q: You’re bringing local high school choir students on stage with you too. Why does Foreigner do that? Is that something you’re doing all along the tour?
A: We do it as much as we can. It’s not at every show, but I’d say most shows. And it really kind of raises awareness about the lack of funding for school music programs. When budgets are cut, the first thing they cut is the arts and music. And I kind of think that we have to do what we can do to keep funding in schools, not only for the music programs, but for the other important programs. This is what makes our future and makes well-rounded people. I know that I’m a product of a public school education and a public music program. So it’s our little way of giving back and raising awareness and raising money. We do give money to the choirs and to The Grammy Foundation to help get notice about this and get money for kids’ schools.
And it’s great to see their faces, and get the letters from the choir directors and the parents. Just to hear how much of an effect this experience has on these kids. They just seem to have a great time, and for most of them it’s the first time they’ve ever been on a big stage in front of a lot of people. So, it’s a very cool thing.
Q: So you haven’t been with Foreigner for all 40of its years. Tell me a little bit about how you came into this role.
A: I was in a band in the 80s called Hurricane and [then] I was doing a lot of production, writing, engineering, producing, and I kind of realised after a long time that I wasn’t really doing what I do best, which is singing. So I made a conscious decision to say ‘I want to start trying to pursue doing things where I’m being a lead vocalist again as opposed to doing all of these other things.’ Because when grunge came in in 1991, I kind of had to take a back seat because no one want to hear my kind of vocal in the early 90s. They wanted that kind of gruff vocal, that Nirvana kind of sound. So I did some other things for a while, but it came a point in time where I wanted to pursue singing again and I went on the in- ternet and I heard about this charity benefit that Mick Jones was doing with some of the guys. And I didn’t know what that meant, but it sounded like maybe a new Mick Jones solo project. I didn’t know what the state of Foreigner was. I wasn’t really following it, but I got in touch with some friends, I made some phone calls. I got in touch with management and unbeknownst to me they we’re kind of thinking about revamping the band and firing up again since Lou [Gramm] had left in 2002. So after some back and forth, the band was coming out to LA to do some rehearsals and I said ‘Can I come and jam with you guys?’ So I remember it was a Saturday and we finished at 6p.m. We jammed for about an hour and a half. I found out later that they kind of had a roundtable discussion and were calling mutual friends, asking ‘Is this guy a good guy? Is he a crazyman or something?’ So they called me at home at 7
o’clock and they said ‘Listen we’re booking shows for this weekend, can you start rehearsing tomorrow?’ That’s how it happened, and it’s never stopped ever since.
Q: Now you’ve been with the band for more than a decade, and you’ve put out music including an album on which you rerecorded this hits. Was that a way to get something out with your voice singing the old songs? A: Yeah, exactly. I think it’s a good representation of where the band is now and it’s a cool experience for us to put those songs back down on record.
Q: With 40years behind the band, what are your goals for the future of Foreigner?
A: Well, we have so much in front of us right now with this 40th anniversary thing. We just finished filming and recording with a symphony orchestra in Switzerland, and that’s going to be coming out as a release. And we have the whole rest of this year touring. So more tour- ing coming up. And there’s always new material that we’re working on. We have the new album 40Hits from 40Years, which is really a chronology of the band from the beginning all the way up ‘til now and beyond, because it does have new material on it as well. It kind of really show you the history of the band and you can hear the band as it goes through the decades.
Q: What are you looking forward to about coming to Saratoga Performing Arts Center? Why should people come out to the show?
A: I think that it’s going to be a night full of hits and we really will have a good time, so I encourage everyone to come.
More information on Foreigner is available at www. foreigneronline.com.
For additional information about the upcoming Saratoga Performing Arts Center concert, or to purchase tickets, visit spac.org.