Foreigner: Felt Like the First Time

Now in their fourth decade, band leader, founder, lead guitarist, and song-writer Mick Jones has reinvented Foreigner, staying true to the original concept: great AOR rock anthems. Mick formed the group in 1978 with ex-King Crimsonian Ian McDonald and singer Lou Gramm. Last night we saw them at House of Blues (Chicago). Gramm has moved on, but who cares? For the past 5 years, Kelly Hanson has been far more than a cipher vocalist. Drummer Jason Bonham has also moved on. My new favorite bass player is their Jeff Pilson, former founding member of Dokken. 10 feet from the stage (thanks Steph!), we saw an awesome show. A veritable hit machine, they easily filled 2 quick hours of great songs. We bought their new 3-disk CD set at the show: 1 disk has all new songs (they played 2), another has remixes of their biggest hits, and the 3rd is a DVD with recent concert footage. Very few bands should attempt a song from Zeppelin's catalogue. Foreigner is one - they have the street cred to do it, masterfully weaving Whole Lotta Love onto the later portion of Juke Box Hero. They did that first for Jason, in homage to his dad - but glad that is now de rigueur for JBH. I will post Double Vision, their 2nd album later today.