Enduring classic rock band Foreigner returns to the Kansas City area on November 18 with a live show at Yardley Hall located inside the Carlsen Center on the campus of Johnson County Community College. This time, however, it is a totally raw performance in promotion of “In Concert. Unplugged,” the band’s first-ever live acoustic album released this past February. A tour with stops at select venues kicked off following the record launch as a prelude to the national one commencing on October 21.
“People really like it, that’s why we extended these shows,” multi-instrumentalist and backing vocalist Tom Gimbel told Live ’80s Kansas City. “We’ve done acoustic shows in the past and people said, ‘That was magnificent, please do more.'”
There are 13 dates scheduled that will take the band up to the holiday season with its second to last concert coming to Overland Park. The setlist will feature brand new renditions of Foreigner’s indelible hits and fan favorites as heard on the new album plus a few bonuses. Founding member Mick Jones will even tell stories between songs about how he wrote some and what was the inspiration behind them, something that Gimbel still finds fascinating.
“It’s just different, people get involved even more so because we can hear them… The audience kind of becomes part of the band in a way,” he explained. “It’s more involvement, more singing, more laughing… It’s also one of the things we really enjoy doing.”
FOREIGNER “THE HITS UNPLUGGED” TOUR SETLIST (Subject to Change) |“Double Vision,” “Long, Long Way From Home,” “Say You Will,” “Waiting for a Girl Like You,” “Fool for You Anyway,” “When It Comes to Love,” “Dirty White Boy,” “That’s All Right” (Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup cover), “Girl on the Moon,” “Cold as Ice,” “Feels Like the First Time” and “Juke Box Hero”; Encore – “I Want to Know What Love Is” and “Hot Blooded”
Stripped down to the strings and horns, the night is guaranteed to provide an intimate experience along with all of the same energy that is synonymous with the band’s live electric shows. Gimbel chuckled that people should not expect to sit back, relax and listen to a nice Foreigner collection of songs, that’s just not the way lead singer Kelly Hansen has it mind.
“Maybe the first part of the show… But certainly, later in the night, he’s gonna want people to stand up and lose their minds—it will be a Friday night, so there will be a full week’s worth of energy to let out.”
Tickets for the Foreigner performance at Yardley Hall are available online and in person via the Carlsen Center box office and range from $50 to $175 with an optional pre-show dinner provided by Café Tempo for an additional $30. The venue is located at 12345 College Boulevard. Doors open at 7pm and the show starts at 8pm.
**”In Concert. Unplugged” is available exclusively on Amazon and all artist royalties from the album sales are donated to Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.**
