Kelly Hansen is surprisingly blunt in explaining why Foreigner’s current tour will be its last, particularly in a world where rockers simply aren’t supposed to age. The 62-year-old California native, who has served as the enduringly popular classic-rock band’s lead vocalist since original frontman Lou Gramm left the band two decades ago, states that it has become harder and harder for him to sing a string of set-list staples at the high end of his tenor range, hits like “Feels Like the First Time” and “Juke Box Hero.”
“Some songs, you know, are only for the young,” he says on the phone just weeks before the band’s July 24 date at Blossom Music Center.
Over the years, he’s sacrificed one thing after another to continue performing well. “I’m not a diva, but my voice is. So that means I can’t eat spicy food late at night. I can’t spend too much time talking. … I can’t
laugh too much. I can’t yell.”
Even expressing himself by changing the flat tone of his voice during phone conversations is a no-no.
“It may sound like I’m unemotional or unhappy or angry, and I’m not.”
Hansen finally discussed the matter with bassist Jeff Pilson, now 64. He agreed that it might be time for the band to retire from the road. (Foreigner’s only remaining original member, 78-year-old Mick Jones, has health problems that limit live participation to days when he feels up to doing so.)
“We’ve had this commitment to excellence, as everybody in the band does,” Hansen says. “But somewhere along the line, someone has to make a decision and carry that through. And that was what I had to do.”
Hansen promises Foreigner’s farewell tour will be a celebration of a musical legacy that began with the 1977 release of its eponymous debut. He describes the first Live Nation-produced leg with special guest Loverboy, which kicked off July 6 in Atlanta, as a “big production.” “These shows are the ones to go to,” he says.
Foreigner representative John Lappen says the band is continuing a 16-year tradition of sharing the stage with local choirs. On this leg, one or two winners of a contest, usually conducted by a radio station in each market, will open each show with a cappella performances of classic-rock songs. Winners receive a public-address system from contest sponsor Bose to use for rehearsals and concerts.
Cleveland classic-rock station WNCX-FM chose the Nordonia High School Choir from the audio entries it received.
All past members of Foreigner, Hansen adds, are welcome to join the current lineup onstage as they have in the past, perhaps most notably for a pair of 40th-anniversary shows in 2017 at the Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. He holds no ill will toward Gramm for an interview in which he said he couldn’t comprehend why fans of the original Foreigner would want to see the current incarnation.
“I, in a small, fractional way, understand what it’s like to see someone try to replace what I’m doing,” Hansen says, recalling the time when Hurricane, the hard-rock band he fronted from 1983 to 1991, regrouped with a different drummer and singer. “My view was, ‘God bless you. Do what you’re going to do. I hope it’s successful.’”
He adds that he’s never tried to replace Gramm in the true sense of the word. “It’s really about these songs, people rehearing what they learned to love when they first heard these songs. That’s all I’m trying to do.”
While Hansen acknowledges there are tracks that the band could finish and release, he doesn’t know what the future holds after the tour ends in 2024. His only plan is to return to southern California to spend time with his family — he married three years ago — and friends. He enjoyed his extended time at home during the pandemic, an experience he hadn’t had since he joined Foreigner.
“I cooked every meal at home for a year and four months,” the winner of a 2015 Food Network Chopped cooking-competition-show rock-star episode remembers. “I was doing [home] projects that I never have a chance to do.”
He insists that he won’t miss the rock ’n’ roll lifestyle, that he’s not a performer whose identity is so wrapped up in the work that “they are going to do it until they drop dead onstage.”
“I’m looking forward to living a smaller life, living with more simplicity and appreciating the simple things,” he says.
At the same time, he’s “painfully aware” that Foreigner has embarked on its final outing.
“I actually broke down on the last leg [of the last tour],” he divulges. “All of a sudden, one night I just realized that I may not be at this venue ever again.” But the desire to preserve the memory of a band that’s still “strong and vital” onstage supersedes the sadness. “That’s really important to me.”
Tickets, $29.50+, are available for Foreigner’s farewell tour stop at Blossom Music Center on Live Nation’s website.
