There will come a moment toward the end of ‘s concert at Linda Ronstadt Music Hall on Sunday, June 15, when the loudest voices on the stage will not be coming from the band.
They will be from a group of teens from Empire High School in Vail on Tucson’s far east side.
“It’s pretty awesome because they’re so excited, and you get these smiling faces and these young voices, and they’re bringing so much enthusiasm,†said keyboardist Michael Bluestein. “It’s just a real buzz for us and you see the audience light up when that happens.â€
Foreigner brings its 50th anniversary tour to Linda Ronstadt Music Hall on Sunday, June 15. Empire High School’s choir has been invited to sing a song with the band during the concert.
The youth choir has been invited to sing the final choruses of Foreigner’s signature ballad “I Want to Know What Love Is,†which Bluestein said is a highlight of the band’s 50th anniversary tour. It’s something the band has been doing for years.
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“I’m really proud that we’ve been doing it for so long,†Bluestein, who joined the band in 2008, said during a phone call late last month.
That song rates as the biggest crowd pleaser in their live shows, Bluestein said, even though there are no original members left to sing it. Mick Jones, the last founding member still active in the band and the leading architect of the band’s song catalogue, stopped touring in 2023 after revealing he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
This will be the last time Tucson sees the band with longtime lead vocalist Kelly Hansen, who announced last month that he is passing the torch to Luis Maldonado, a guitarist and vocalist who joined the band four years ago and had been a member of Train.
“He’s a fantastic singer,†Bluestein said of Maldonado. “We’re already a pretty solid unit and the fact that Luis, who’s already with us and who’s already been thoroughly vetted and road tested at this point, is going to be stepping into lead vocals, we feel really good about it.â€
The true test of any band that’s been around as long as Foreigner (since 1976) is not the number of original members still performing; it’s the quality of the songs.
“I think with Foreigner, we got an incredible catalog of songs that everyone knows ... that lets us keep doing what we’re doing,†Bluestein said. “As soon as they come to the show and they hear these ... rocking tunes coming at them one after another, it becomes about the songs and these tunes that have been a soundtrack to their lives.â€
Arguably none fit that more fully than “I Want to Know What Love Is,†the 1984 song that has transcended generations.
“It’s a worldwide hit,†Bluestein said. “I think a song like ‘Hot Blooded’ was really huge in the States, maybe in the UK somewhere, but not as big of an international hit. I think ‘I Want to Know What Love Is,’ ‘I’m Waiting For A Girl Like You’ are two songs that were just really international, that seemed to transcend language and culture. When you have that kind of hit, it’s a pretty powerful experience for the artist, because anywhere you go, everybody knows it.â€
Sunday’s concert at the Music Hall, 260 S. Church Ave., starts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $75-$208 through
