Prior to watching Foreigner’s forthcoming live DVD “Live On Stage”, I had completely forgotten about Japan’s Super Rock Festival. After doing some on-line searches, my best guess is that the festival ran two years - 1984 and 1985. This live set is from Foreigner’s appearance on August 10, 1985 and the band was touring behind their fifth disc, Agent Provocateur, at the time. The festival lineup appears to have been pretty eclectic as Foreigner played alongside Dio, Rough Cut, Mama’s Boys and Sting.

Foreigner’s performance runs sixty minutes and, while the set is weighted more toward AOR material from Foreigner 4 and Agent Provocateur, the band doesn’t ignore its older material and touches on songs from all of their albums. This DVD also marks the release of the first full-length concert by the Lou Graham fronted lineup of Foreigner. While Classic Hits Live also featured Lou Graham, it compiled tracks from shows between 1978 – 1988 and seems more weighted to the guitar-rock of Foreigner’s early days.

Super Rock Festival 1985 Set List:
1. Long, Long Way From Home
2. Head Games
3. Waiting For A Girl Like You
4. Luanne
5. That Was Yesterday
6. I Want To Know What Love Is
7. Reaction To Action
8. Urgent
9. Dirty White Boy
10. Hot Blooded
11. Juke Box Hero





While the AOR sound and synthesizer-driven power ballads of the 80’s may sound a bit dated today, bands like Van Halen (with Sammy Hagar), Night Ranger and Foreigner dominated FM-radio at that time. The overall performance is solid as the band had completed their evolution into an arena rock band with Agent Provocateur and any of the rough-edges from the band’s early days were long smoothed over.



The band hit their commercial peak with Foreigner 4 but any fans of the band will want to check out Live On Stage. This tour was the “last hurrah” for this lineup of the band as they ran out of gas two years later on Inside Information (1987).

Looking now at the audio and video quality - this show was broadcast on Japanese TV so all the footage is pro-shot and multi-camera. This brings up my one complaint with this disc as it looks like a VHS tape was used as the source that was one or two generations from the master. The audio portion of the show though sounds perfect.

Lou Graham is currently fronting The Lou Graham Band, who released a Christian rock album in 2009. Mick Jones and the Kelly Hansen-fronted lineup of Foreigner are currently on tour with Journey and Night Ranger.

Foreigner 2011 Tour Dates:
September 21, 2011 - San Antonio, TX - AT&T Center
September 22, 2011 - Austin, TX - Frank Erwin Center
September 24, 2011 - Dallas, TX - Gexa Energy Pavilion (SOLD OUT)
September 25, 2011 - Houston, TX - Cynthia Mitchell Woods Pavilion
September 27, 2011 - Oklahoma City, OK - Zoo Amphitheater
September 28, 2011 - Kansas City, MO - Starlight Theatre
September 30, 2011 - Albuquerque, NM - Hard Rock Casino presents the Pavilion
October 01, 2011 - Englewood, CO - Comfort Dental Amphitheatre
October 04, 2011 - Santa Barbara, CA - Santa Barbara Bowl
October 05, 2011 - Concord, CA - Sleep Train Pavilion at Concord
October 07, 2011 - Chula Vista, CA - Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre
October 08, 2011 - Las Vegas, NV - MGM Grand Garden Arena
October 11, 2011 - Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Bowl
October 12, 2011 - Fresno, CA - Save Mart Center
October 14, 2011 - Wheatland, CA - Sleep Train Amphitheatre
October 15, 2011 - Mountain View, CA - Shoreline Amphitheatre
October 19, 2011 - Portland, OR - Rose Garden
October 21, 2011 - Seattle, WA - Key Arena

Links:
Foreigner