Review by Shawn Perry
Photos by Ron Lyon
These days, Foreigner carries on with Mick Jones as the sole original member. Which makes sense because it was always pretty much his band anyway. But no one, not even Jones himself, can deny that singer Lou Gramm played a pivotal role in the band’s success. When you think of songs like “Feels Like the First Time,” “Waiting For A Girl Like You,” “I Want To Know What Love Is, “ and innumerable others, it’s hard to ignore the voice that sweetens the melody and drives these songs home.
Since undergoing surgery for a brain tumor in 1998, then parting ways with Foreigner in 2003, Gramm has continued to stay active, recording sporadically, writing his memoir, Juke Box Hero: My Five Decades In Rock ‘n’ Roll, and playing live. He’s no longer the wiry, curly-haired Rochester boy with the golden pipes, but the man’s passion for making music and singing the songs that zoomed straight to the top of charts is still very much intact.
The Coach House was packed for Gramm, and our group scrambled to find seats as the opening band finished their set. Shortly after 9:00, the lights dimmed and a screen lit up with a short film featuring Gramm. All at once, a band appeared and blasted right into “Long, Long Way From Home.” Gramm popped up out of nowhere and took hold of the vocal. It wasn’t the smoothest introduction, but as the show carried on with more Foreigner staples — “Cold As Ice,” “Waiting For A Girl Like You,” “Double Vision” and “That Was Yesterday” — Gramm found his groove and that unmistakable tenor got the room moving.
When he got to “I Want to Know What Love Is,” a six-piece group of local gospel singers joined Gramm for the epic backgrounds on the chorus. “Dirty White Boy” was the heaviest (dirtiest?) song of the night, and “Urgent” had saxophonist Scott Gilman roaming the aisles of the Coach House. Along a full range of Foreigner tunes, Gramm pulled out a couple hits of his own — 1987’s “Midnight Blue” and 1989’s “Just Between You And Me.” He and his able-bodied band — Gilman, guitarist Michael Staertow, bassist AD Zimmer, and drummer Rob Mount — finished up the night with a cover of Free’s “All Right Now” and a rousing “Hot Blooded.”
With over a dozen Top 20 hits with his vocals at the very center, Lou Gramm is the true voice of Foreigner. There’s a reason Foreigner’s current singer Kelly Hansen, undoubtedly a strong singer and frontman in his own right, sounds remarkably similar to Gramm: You can’t separate these songs from the voice. Gramm is reportedly working on new music, and maybe when he returns, fans will get a taste of something fresh out of the oven. Until then, seeing him perform the great hits he cultivated in the 70s and 80s is enough to take anyone back to the days when life was loose, carefree and filled with love.
