Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Rosenheim (Sommerfestival) / Mangfallpark Süd / Germany
Concert date: 18.07.2013
Attendance: 2500
Ticket price: 50,00€
Foreigner are on a new German tour running from 18.07.2013 to 03.08.2013! Not so long ago, the band’s future was seriously in question. Mick Jones, the band’s architect and big boss, had a heart attack in February last year, and during his recovery he even considered retiring and »pulling the plug« on the band. And yet in October 2012 came the encouraging news that Foreigner were heading back to the stage!
Rosenheim is an ideal spot for a gig trip. Tunnel tolls aside, it doesn’t hit your wallet too hard when it comes to travel costs. You get there fast from Ljubljana. And the timing was just right too. Right before the Metaldays 2013 festival, where all of Slovenia, or at least every metalhead and rocker among us, is heading. So timing-wise, this show was a realistically doable once-in-a-lifetime shot.
We caught this concert by the skin of our teeth. At this time of year the German A10 motorway turns into one giant traffic jam in both directions, especially on the stretch past Chimsee. And Rosenheim lies north of that popular tourist spot, so you have to fight your way past it to get there. On top of that, a later parking problem ate up our precious time. Wherever it was »free«, you found a »private property« sign, and if not that, then one of the locals would come hobbling over at record speed and chase you off, claiming you were parking on his spots. I’m talking about bored guest workers whom life in Germany has obviously turned into people who are more Catholic than the Pope. There were even problems finding a place where you could relieve yourself in a civilized way, for free. Forget about porta-potties. There’s a container with a note about a half-euro fee, which finally allows you to unzip your fly. This capitalist philosophy has already swallowed Slovenia too. Creepy, really. Give it a little longer and they’ll be charging people for the molecules of oxygen they inhale in public places.
All good. I’m standing in the photo pit. The stage is high, and once again there’s little room for photographers. Luckily there are only seven of us, two of them with compact »toys«. But the first view was a shocker. Foreigner »trickle« onto the stage one by one. At first everything goes as expected. Michael Bluestein peeks out from the left first and sits down at the keyboards, and the band’s new member and drummer Chris Frazier is already on stage (with a new look, longer and dyed hair), the guy we recently saw with Eric Sardinas on his 2011 tour. Almost together, shoulder to shoulder, Jeff Pilson (bass) and Tom Gimbel (guitar) come running in from the right. Then the theatrically minded vocalist Kelly Hansen bounces in from the middle, and from the left, last of all, hmmm….. Mick Jones. Who? It certainly should have been Mick Jones. And this Mick Jones was »by the look of him« a lot slimmer, with a lush, curly head of hair, no mustache, no glasses. I doubt Jones had put in contact lenses, because this new guy has blue eyes. Carnival is long gone, and Halloween even more so. What the hell is going on?
Foreigner started the concert without Mick Jones. The guitarist on stage, whose pedigree and name are otherwise very well known, was none other than Bruce Watson, who played for Rod Stewart before joining Foreigner. Supposedly he has been helping the band out on stage since August 2011. RockLine, by the way, saw Foreigner open for Journey in June 2011, before this visit to Rosenheim. Could a Foreigner concert without Mick Jones really be on the cards? No way.
Of course the band handled this situation, »tricky« at first glance to a layman, with feather-light ease. Like it was nothing. Routine, experience, confidence and of course a surplus of adrenaline that surges through your veins right before you conquer the stage. All of that keeps you riding high! Some three thousand or more very calm and »civilized« German »nosy folks« came to life in a flash. Every time Kelly threw his arms up to the sky, urging them to clap, and especially when he climbed onto the barrier separating the photo pit from the crowd, walked along it like a circus performer on a tightrope and shook hands with everyone in the front row (during Cold As Ice). Pilson was soaked in sweat in no time. As always. The recognizable (supporting) character from the film »Rock Star« is considered the most dynamic and active stage figure at Foreigner shows. He whipped his head around wildly on his shoulders and played bass in positions that look next to impossible to manage. Kelly is once again in great vocal form. His integration into Foreigner is a rare example of a successful upgrade, considering the general »patching up« of lineups of those bands who are now in their »mature« years and had their career peaks in the seventies or eighties. In Kelly Hansen’s case we can say with a clear conscience that he is not just an equal replica of the original Lou Gramm, but even better than him. Gimbel, meanwhile, in the opening part of the concert, besides playing guitar, also held down the synth lines that normally belong to the »master« Jones.
The opening part this time counts as the stretch that lasted a full half hour. Why? After the first round of tugging at the (female) heartstrings, when the band finished Waiting For A Girl Like You, Kelly Hansen takes a few moments to address the crowd and says he’d like to introduce a special musician who will be joining them on stage tonight. The architect of Foreigner and the »dirtiest white boy« (Dirty White Boy) of all Foreigner members (former and current). A man whose health is getting better and better from day to day. Ladies and gentlemen! Mick Jones! With Dirty White Boy, Foreigner thus grew into a septet for the rest of the show, which still lasted a whole hour. After the rowdy Dirty White Boy, the pompous announcement and Mick Jones’s arrival on stage, the band moved into a short acoustic set that briefly showcased the 2011 release »Acoustic And More«, as the septet took on one of the finest songs (still) on Foreigner’s current album »Can’t Slow Down« (2009), called When It Comes To Love. Bluestein and Frazier stepped (along with all the other members) to the front of the stage. The former stood at Jones’s keyboards, the latter beside him with a tambourine. The rest, with the exception of Kelly, held acoustic guitars in their hands, Pilson even a twelve-string. The nicest surprise came soon after, when the band went acoustic on the hit Say You Will, which they hadn’t played on European stages for several years. Then a switch back to electric and a hypnotic temptation with That Was Yesterday, another little spice-up of the slightly refreshed repertoire. This song wasn’t on the band’s setlists in 2011, 2010, 2009 either…
When a band forges hit after hit and the crowd is warmed up to the point where an incredible energy bond runs between them, a concert like that flies by at extreme speed. After a phenomenal new display of erotic saxophone, courtesy of Tom Gimbel’s solo acrobatics (within the indispensable Urgent), Foreigner stole a few minutes with a soul-crushing dose of keyboard and drum solos and then returned to a marathon rendition of Juke Box Hero, which at the end of the regular set stretched to a hefty ten minutes. Nothing to complain about. A show tailored to Mick Jones’s current state of health. A show that smelled of gentle minute-theft. Ticket price? A »trifle«. A whopping 50,00€. The Germans clearly don’t feel the crisis, and they probably wouldn’t have minded if Juke Box Hero had gone on for half an hour or more.
The moment of the concert when the crowd becomes instantly yours came in the encore. The mega hit I Wanna Know What Love Is. Judging by their age and lifestyle, and by the waistlines of broad-hipped mamas in their solid 50s and 60s, they started sighing deeply like underage teenagers. The song confirmed that most people came to the concert to hear exactly this song. And the crowd was mostly female, of course. The band wraps up its set after an hour and a half with one more hit. Hot Blooded, where the stage is first bathed in blood-red light and the band’s architect Mick Jones steps to center stage one last time.
The concert was very nice. Correct, professionally and routinely carried out. Flawless execution. Watson filled the gaps excellently that came from the necessary adjustments to the band’s shows, tailored to the current medical treatment of the slowly recovering Mick Jones. There’s no talk of anything exceptional this time. Then again, it’s hard to talk about highlights when you have a band on stage whose repertoire consists exclusively of must-play hits. And Foreigner had a small sea of those. Masterfully arranged, evergreen-sounding creations. Foreigner are considered one of the biggest hit machines in rock history!
So the event unfolded as expected. With the initial shock that put fear into our bones for the first half hour, that it might be a concert without Mick Jones. If he’s not there, Foreigner can just call it a career. Rosenheim was thus fully satisfied, as was the RockLine crew, who for once, for a change, headed from Germany back south before eleven in the evening!
Setlist
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 (acoustic)
7. Say You Will (acoustic)
8. That Was Yesterday
9. Feels Like A First Time
10. Urgent
11. solo keyboards / solo drums
12. Juke Box Hero
—encore—
13. Long Way From Home
14. I Wanna Know What Love Is
15. Hot Blooded
Photo Gallery
