Mike Singer

On June 22 in 2018, I first saw Foreigner headline a three-band bill that included Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Evening and Whitesnake at Jones Beach State Park in Wantagh, New York.

Fast forward five years to Sept. 1, 2023, and Foreigner is now currently on their Historic Farewell Tour and stopped at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.

It’s sad to see a Foreigner retire but lead singer, Kelly Hansen, said that they would rather go out while they were still on top of their game.

Foreigner, in addition to Hansen, includes Jeff Pilson from Dokken on the bass, Michael Bluestein on the keyboards, Bruce Watson, and Luis Maldonado on guitars, along with Chris Frazier on the drums.

Prior to the goodbye festivities from Foreigner, opening the show was the Canadian native, Loverboy who went on stage a little past 7:00 p.m. and blasted into their first number, “Notorious” off of 1987’s “Wildside.” Loverboy, made up of Mike Reno on vocals, Paul Dean on guitar, Matt Frenette on drums, Doug Johnson on keyboards, and Ken “Spider” Sinnaeve on the bass, played all the hits during their 10-song set. Despite the band not running around the stage like they would during their youth, they sounded great. Reno’s voice was great and the rest of the band was a well-oiled machine that was ready to rock.

Loverboy’s setlist consisted of these songs:

1. Notorious
2. Lucky Ones
3. Queen of the Broken Hearts
4. Take Me to the Top
5. The Kid Is Hot Tonite
6. Heaven in Your Eyes
7. Lovin’ Every Minute of It
8. Hot Girls in Love
9. Turn Me Loose
10. Working for the Weekend

With the crowd all warmed up from Loverboy the house lights dimmed and a man came over the loudspeaker to say “Please welcome, Foreigner,” and the band jumped straight into one of my favorite numbers, “Double Vison,” from the record of the same name.

From the minute the band got on stage to the minute they got off, they were smiling, running around, and interacting with the crowd the entire time. While in the photography pit, Hansen would point his microphone at photographers to get a shot at him while Watson would run around on stage and smile into the cameras.

The band loved the high energy from the sold-out crowd that did not sit in their seat for the entire show, and the fans loved the show. Everyone was on their feet for the entire show. There was a husband and wife about three rows in front of me on the floor, who for certain songs, would dance together, never take their eyes off each other, and not even watch the band. It was as if they were reliving their younger school days. For some people, Foreigner’s music is truly the soundtrack to their life and the fans came out in droves for the show.

Foreigner’s set was divided into three portions. The first and third portion was a regular electric set. The middle portion of the rock and roll show was an acoustic set where all six members of the band sat in chairs at the front of the stage, grabbed acoustic guitars, and played a few songs. The band had every type of song for every type of fan in the crowd. The band played some deep cuts like “Girl On the Moon,” from “4,” popular hits like “I Want to Know What Love Is,” as well as a song from their latest record, 2009’s “Can’t Slow Down.”

The last time I saw Foreigner they were good. Now this time that I saw them, they were great. They had smoke shooting out from the stage and fire shooting from the back, it truly was a sight to see.

During the majority of the show, they played behind a banner with the band’s name on it. But, as soon as Frazier started to kick the peddle on the kick drum, the old curtain fell and a new one with a giant jukebox replaced the old one. As Frazier continued to play the opening beat of the song, Hansen rose on a mini stage in the middle of the crowd and started to sing the first verse of the song as he was lowered from the mini stage, ran through the crowd, and joined the band back on stage.

On all the songs, Foreigner had amazing harmonies as well as vocals in general. Hansen is heavily compared to former lead singer and original frontman Lou Gramm but in my opinion, they are different in their own ways. While Hansen isn’t Gramm they do sound alike and Hansen has a way to command the audience’s attention on stage, unlike any other sing I have seen before.

If you haven’t seen Foreigner with Hansen at the helm, I would say that he sounds like Gramm but has the stage persona and charisma of Steven Tyler from Aerosmith. Overall, the former Hurrican singer is just awesome and can hang in there with the best of them.

Towards the end of the show, Hansen announced that there were two guests joining the band on stage for the encore.  Just moments after the announcement, former bassist from 1979’s “Head Games” until 1991’s “Unusual Heat,” Rick Wills jumped on stage with bass in hand. In addition to Wills, former original member, and keyboardist, Al Greenwood also joined his former band to play the final two songs of the show, the aforementioned “I Want to Know What Love Is,” and “Hot Blooded.”

I think it really is great to see when a band is able to recognize former members who are no longer in the band and allow them to get up on stage with them and play. The respect that all those musicians had for one another, past and present, was very noticeable. Every member was smiling and everyone was happy to be there.

From the moment that band got on stage to the minute they left, Foreigner delivered a full 13-song set, gave 110% of their effort, left the sold-out arena with happy, satisfied fans, and made sure they all got their money’s worth. 

Foreigner’s epic setlist went as follows:

1. Double Vision
2. Head Games
3. Cold as Ice
4. Waiting for a Girl Like You
5. Dirty White Boy
6. When It Comes To Love
7. Girl on the Moon
8. Say You Will
9. Feels Like The First Time
10. Urgent
11. Juke Box Hero
12. I Want to Know What Love Is
13. Hot Blooded

If you’re unsure about whether or not you want to see this version of Foreigner, stop thinking and go see them. They were great live and I would do anything to see them one last time. They played every one of their hits, and a few songs that I didn’t know but now really like. I was a super fan of theirs before the show and it has since grown.