Ok, flashback time! Back in 1977, at the ripe old age of 9 (!!!) I was turned on to FM radio by my older next door neighbor (my honorary older brother) and my life was forever changed.
Growing up in my house, you got Barbara Streisand and Anne Margaret with my mom, and my pops was fond of the saying “there are TWO kinds of music- Country and Western”. And of course there was the grandmother, the matriarch of the family, that considered anything outside of a hymn to be “devil’s music”. But I digress. Suffice it to say, Rock and Roll radio in the 70’s knocked me for a loop! Until then my only exposure to rock and roll was Elvis Presley and the Beach Boys.
There were a lot of great bands back then making waves – Boston, Journey, Steely Dan, Doobie Brothers…but you simply couldn’t listen to the radio for more than an hour without hearing Foreigner – they were essentially on heavy rotation my entire youth and I was a big fan of the band as a kid.
Fast forward a few years to ’81/’82 and I became fully ensconced in Punk and New Wave music. I gave away all my “old” records and cassettes – stating I’d “never listen to the old crap again”. Yeah, youth and ignorance go hand in hand! But I basically stopped listening to what is now considered “classic rock” for about 20 years.
Ironically it was our daughter who mentioned that she’d really like to see Foreigner and as a surprise, the Mrs. picked up tickets for what turned out to be their farewell tour. I was game, figuring it would be a fun nostalgic night – and it was – but it was so much more than we expected!
For starters, we found out the opening band was to be Loverboy of all bands! We scoffed. We purposely left late for the show, not caring one iota about seeing their set. The Mrs. and I were middle-school aged kids when Loverboy exploded and of course we liked them at the time, same as all our contemporaries, but we never owned any of their records and in our jaded post-punk minds, they were sort of joke band, a caricature of 80’s music. Well, as luck would have it, we just sailed into the venue and despite leaving late we got seated right when they started their set. And boy are we glad we did!
To our shock and amazement, Loverboy were OUTSTANDING! Honestly I’d forgotten how many radio hits they had from back in the day and they just cranked ’em out, one after another. The playing was excellent and Mike Reno’s voice sounded as good today as it did 40 years ago. It was really impressive! I have a new found appreciation for them and I’m frankly still in a bit of shock over how great they were. Who would’ve guessed?!?!
Foreigner started their set with “Double Vision” and they came to deliver! Much like the Loverboy set, theirs was basically a Greatest Hits collection, and again I had forgotten just how many hits they’d put out over the years.
Now, I realize that this version of Foreigner has none of the original players, but some of the “new guys” have been in the band 15-20 years and the musicianship was simply phenomenal. Seriously. Each and every one of the guys on stage put up a blistering performance and it was honestly one of the best shows I’ve even seen, insofar as the precision and perfection with which they played. With the possible exception of Rush, it was the most “professional” rock show I’ve ever experienced. Just flawless. And what made it even more amazing was that it was ALL live. No backing tracks, no audio trickery, just a bunch of exceptional musicians performing real music at the highest level. Seriously, these guys are world class musicians, and together they were AMAZING. And the icing on the delicious cake was that it was immediately obvious that the band was having a great time doing it!
I’m so grateful for our kid bringing this show to our attention and for my lovely wife for snatching up the tickets! This show was SOOO much more than simple nostalgia, it was a reminder of what made me fall in love with music, what made me want to be a musician, what drove me to attend hundreds of shows over the last four decades. It was an absolute blast and a show I’m sure to remember for a long, long time!
If you have the opportunity, I cannot give a higher recommendation for a concert. If you love good, old fashioned, straight ahead rock and roll you’d be hard pressed to find a better band to see live!
Thanks for stopping by!
The Boring Old Man 