You could expect two things throughout the night, A night full of Foreigner’s biggest hits and a lot of banter between Kelly Hansen and the crowd. The crowd was getting loud and ready as the band slowly made its way onto the stage and began to play “Double Vision” with 60-year-old lead singer Kelly Hansen hiding in the background and jumping into the fray like he was a kid for the rest of the show. Bruce Watson and Luis Maldonado Playing Off Of Each Other Not one! Granted Mick Jones is still with the band, he just doesn’t make many appearances, just like tonight and in 2018 ( Review Here). This doesn’t change the fact that there isn’t one original band member. This may be true and this current version is very tight and unbelievably good. Many say this current edition is a better (or at least as good) version compared to the original band as the current edition is more engaging with the crowd. The win was well deserved and this young band sounded great, with that being said the runners-up would have been a better fit to open as ” Them Pesky Kids” played music from the same Genre associated with Foreigner. Group “The Only” won the contest to be Foreigner’s opening band. Treasure Island made sure this show was very different, starting with the show being outdoors (the 2018 show was indoors at the Island Event Center.) The other differences were there was no high school choir joining Foreigner on stage to sing “ I Want To Know What Love Is” and Foreigner actually had an opening band and a 2nd stage with a 3rd band kicking off the night long before most people showed up. Promise.The long wait is over! After nearly a 19-month hiatus Treasure Island opened back up for live music as Foreigner invaded the Amphitheater last night with a show featuring 12 hit songs and a nearly 10-minute drum/keyboard solo on the greatest hits 2021 tour! My only regret was that I didn’t jump on every chance I had to see Foreigner live before. I guess with 40 years of this band being the backing tracks to my entire life, that’s going to be inevitable. They closed the show with “Hot Blooded” and in a moment of reflection, I realized I knew every song, in fact, I knew every word to every song.
This was hands down, the best keyboard solo I’ve ever witnessed. We know these peopole are seriously wrong. Everyone throughout the history of time has portrayed the Keytar as uncool. Somewhere around the middle of the show, keyboard/vocalist Michael Bluestein broke out his Keytar to come front and center at the end of “Urgent”. They opened the show with “Double Vision” and played everything you’d immediately recognize including “Cold as Ice”, “Feels Like the First Time”, and many others. I’d imagine if I were to take a 1980s/90s recording and put it up against tonight’s show, you probably couldn’t tell me which one was which. The sound was fantastic, considerably better than some bands of their era today. I have a new found appreciation for just how awesome this band is, they’ve won me over as a fan. Tonigh, 40 years later, that all changed. Foreigner was always one of those bands that I wouldn’t seek out, but if they came on the radio, I wasn’t in a hurry to change it. The lead singer reminded me of Lenny Wolf, lead singer of the late 1980s band Kingdom Come. They may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but they were unmistakably clean and performed very well. They have a very unique sound, pulling influence from Rock/Blues, Raggae, Jazz, and Funk/Groove. The Only was up next as the opener on the big stage. They play a little bit of everything that everyone is going to know from Journey and Boston to Van Halen. TPK is arguably one of the best cover band in MN. TPK got the small stage to warm the crowd up as they were gathering for beer and food trucks and making their way to the big stage. The Only won, followed in second by Them Pesky Kids (TPK). Lazer 101.7 in Rochester (KRCH) held a contest for the opening bands. There were three bands tonight: Them Pesky Kids, The Only, and (of course) Foreigner. What a way to get back to live music! Treasure Island went all out with two stages, food trucks and easily the best staff at any show I’ve ever been out to. Oh, I can’t tell you how good it is to have live music again! I haven’t covered a live show since January 2020 and it has been the longest 18 months I can ever remember.
Foreigner – – Treasure Island Amphitheater
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