CLEVELAND, Miss. — FOREIGNER will visit the Mississippi Delta as part of their farewell tour on Tuesday, March 5. This sold-out performance kicks off at 7:30 p.m. at the Bologna Performing Arts Center, featuring an evening of the iconic band’s classic hits. With 10 multi-platinum albums and 16 Top 30 hits, FOREIGNER is universally hailed as one of the most popular rock acts in the world with a formidable musical arsenal that continues to propel sold-out tours and album sales, now exceeding 80 million.
Joining FOREIGNER on the BPAC stage will be the Cleveland Central High School Choir. FOREIGNER’s commitment to music education has been an ongoing philanthropic effort for the band and has enabled the group to raise more than $300,000 for school music programs and other children’s charities.
Charles Ross, director of the Cleveland Central High School choir, said, “I am very excited for the CCHS Choir! The choir is very excited as well. At their age, it is a rarity to experience singing for such a legendary band as FOREIGNER! One of our mottos is that ‘proper practice promotes a positive performance’, so I’m sure that this performance will go extremely well.”
Responsible for some of rock and roll’s most enduring anthems including “Juke Box Hero,” “Cold As Ice,” “Hot Blooded,” “Waiting For A Girl Like You,” “Feels Like The First Time,” “Urgent,” “Head Games,” “Say You Will,” “Dirty White Boy,” “Long, Long Way From Home” and the worldwide No. 1 hit, “I Want To Know What Love Is,” FOREIGNER still rocks the charts more than 40 years into the game with massive airplay and continued Billboard Top 200 album success. Audio and video streams of FOREIGNER’s hits are approaching 15 million per week.
With more Top 10 songs than Journey and as many as Fleetwood Mac, FOREIGNER also features strongly in every category in Billboard’s “Greatest of All Time” listing. At times, the band’s weekly catalog sales have eclipsed those of Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, the Rolling Stones, the Who, Def Leppard, Van Halen, Aerosmith, and most of their Classic Rock peers (Source: Nielsen SoundScan). FOREIGNER‘s catalog sales were recently celebrated in Business Insider as hitting the Top 40 among the Best Selling Music Artists of All Time.
Founded in 1976, FOREIGNER‘s debut album produced the hits “Feels Like The First Time,” “Cold As Ice” and “Long, Long Way From Home.” The album Double Vision followed, as did a string of hits including “Urgent,” “Juke Box Hero” and “Waiting For A Girl Like You.” Those songs helped give FOREIGNER‘s next album, 4, its impressive run at No. 1 on the Billboard chart. At the zenith of 80’s sound, FOREIGNER‘s fifth album, Agent Provocateur, gave the world the incredible No. 1 global hit, ”I Want To Know What Love Is.” This musical milestone followed the record-breaking song “Waiting For A Girl Like You.”
FOREIGNER‘s founder is Songwriters Hall of Fame member Mick Jones. He is a visionary maestro whose stylistic songwriting, indelible guitar hooks and multi-layered talents continue to escalate FOREIGNER‘s influence and guide the band to new horizons.
Jones reformed the band after a 2002 hiatus and selected lead singer Kelly Hansen to help write an inspired new chapter in the history of FOREIGNER. One of rock’s greatest showmen, Hansen is among the most respected, consummate professionals in rock and roll. With a 40-year career that spans almost every area of music, from the role of lead vocalist to producing and engineering, Hansen has led FOREIGNER into the digital age while inspiring a whole new
generation of fans.
FOREIGNER’s lineup also includes noted Dokken bassist Jeff Pilson, Michael Bluestein on keyboards, guitarist Bruce Watson, Chris Frazier on drums and guitarist Luis Carlos Maldonado. An unprecedented new level of energy led the group to a re-emergence of astounding music that speaks to FOREIGNER‘s enduring popularity.
FOREIGNER’s music education outreach initiative will make a donation of $500 to the Cleveland Central High School Choir. Ross added, “The youth of today are the musicians and artists of tomorrow. Performance opportunities build musicianship and discipline. It also submerges them into environments that teach altruism, respect, integrity, hard work, and dedication. It gives them an experience that will shape and mold them for the rest of their lives.”
FOREIGNER announced the beginning of their Farewell Tour on national television on November 14th. The tour began on July 6th, 2023 in Alpharetta, Georgia, and is expected to continue for two years. The goal is to get to all the cities that the band has played since its reformation in 2004.
The BPAC Spring 2024 Series is made possible by support from the following Premier Sponsors: Cannon Motors, Needle Specialty Products, Robinson Electric Company, and Wade, Inc.; Executive Sponsors Bolivar Medical Center, Gainspoletti Financial, Guaranty Bank, Planters Bank, and Quality Steel; and VIP Sponsors Agriworld, Inc., BankPlus, Bayer, Cleveland State Bank, Cotton House, Entergy, Renasant Bank, and Visit Cleveland.
For more information about FOREIGNER and venue features, please visit bolognapac.com or contact the ticket office at the Bologna Performing Arts Center.
