They were six weeks away from releasing their sophomore album when Foreigner, still riding a huge wave from the 1977 release of their eponymous debut album, played the Rainbow Theatre in London on April 27, 1978. Barely two years old, Foreigner had that youthful, energetic passion that helps blaze a trail to success. They had been touring in America where the fans were eating them up and pushing their singles, “Cold As Ice,” “Feels Like The First Time” and “Long, Long Way From Home,” to the upper regions of the charts. And now they were returning to England, the home of founding members Mick Jones, Ian McDonald and Dennis Elliott, to play to a sold out crowd.
That performance was captured on film and released on DVD and Blu-Ray on March 15th. Titled Foreigner – Live At The Rainbow ’78, it is a supreme reminder just how good Foreigner was in the beginning. We are so used to hearing a Foreigner song every hour on the radio nowadays that we forget how powerful they were as a live act in the late 1970’s. They would become arena rock monsters alongside Styx and Journey, Heart and Cheap Trick, and they would sell millions of albums and rack up top 10 singles for over a decade. Not to mention capturing that precise moment, in a song called “Juke Box Hero,” when a kid becomes enraptured by the sound of a guitar and turns their dreams towards becoming a rock star.
“1978 was an absolutely magical time for the band,” recalled Jones upon the DVD’s announcement, “and to come back over to the UK to play a headline show at the legendary Rainbow really was a dream come true. The audience was amazing that night. We couldn’t have wished for a better show.”
Remixed and remastered from the original film reels, the video quality is actually much better than some of the other old concert films hitting the shelves today. The sound is also quite crisp. Although there are no extras included (some behind-the-scenes clips would have been cool), the show itself is enough to satisfy any fan of rock & roll. Twelve songs – all ten tracks from Foreigner and two new songs from the upcoming Double Vision, encompass the set. It was fun hearing these two staples of classic rock radio, “Hot Blooded” and the title track, performed in their infancy before we knew all the words and nuances of each track like the back of our hand.
But truly what is most exciting about Live At The Rainbow ’78 is the songs we never hear anymore – not on the radio and not as part of the current Foreigner’s setlist: “I Need You” and “At War With The World.” “I Need You,” especially, hasn’t been given it’s due, a bluesier rocker featuring a killer guitar solo by Jones that should be played more often. The second half of “The Damage Is Done” highlights the yearning in Lou Gramm’s vocals intertwining with another emotional Jones solo.
“Starrider,” a Fairport Convention-ish tune that Jones wrote with keyboard player Al Greenwood, and is usually performed when Jones joins the current Foreigner onstage, is taken to new heights in London. Originally a four minute tune sung by Jones, it has been expanded to the eleven-minute mark with exceptional musicianship, from McDonald’s flute that opens the track and midway through when it segues into Greenwood’s space-age-y keys solo to Jones’ full-speed-ahead solo mating with Ed Gagliardi’s bass and Elliott’s drumbeats. It is passionate, it is moody and it has totally won me over, whereas before it was just another dreamy acid song.
Also of special notation is Gramm’s Warehouse New Orleans t-shirt that he wears for most of the show. A popular venue in the Louisiana city, it’s where all the cool bands of the 1970’s stopped on their tours. Foreigner had played two shows there in February that year where tickets sold for $7.00. Gramm also jumps onto drums set up beside Elliott on “Starrider” and the closer “Headknocker.”
With now forty-plus years under their belt, Foreigner remains a sold-out crowd attraction, although the original band members of those heady 1970’s days had moved on to other musical projects long ago; except Jones who still gets onstage with the band when he is able, most recently at a series of Canadian shows this past week, and Gagliardi, who passed away in 2014. A few reunion shows have also taken place with Gramm, McDonald, Elliott and Greenwood over the years.
“The band had suffered a little bit in the nineties,” singer Kelly Hansen, who joined in 2005, told me in a 2014 Glide interview about the band’s survival over the years. “It was a tough go there with the grunge and the problems with Lou’s voice and then leaving again in 2002. But since that time we’ve really tried to show that this band is vibrant and relevant and energetic and we really have an energetic show. We like to play WITH the people not to the people. And I think putting that much effort into it and really pushing hard the last ten years has really helped make a difference along with having a wonderful set of songs to sing.”
And that is the secret to their success – then and now.
