Urgent: Fifty Years of Foreigner, Two Nights at Beaver Creek

Whenever Michael Bluestein takes the stage with Foreigner, it still feels like the first time.

“Being a part of this legacy, seeing people light up with these songs, singing along. Just the idea of being a part of something that’s bigger than yourself, the group is greater than the sum of its individual parts,” says the keyboardist, who joined the classic-rock juggernaut in 2008. “This magical thing happens when we all come together and play this music and these songs. Being part of that experience is still moving and feels important.”

You want to know what love is? Bluestein recalls “the pinch-me, goosebump moment” he experienced when breaking into “Juke Box Hero” in March 2008, during his rookie year.

“It was a pretty surreal experience playing that tune, and all the tunes, for the first time,” Bluestein says.

At this point, the legendary British-American group’s been playing those tunes for a long time: This year, the jukebox heroes are celebrating five decades of hot-blooded hits and chart-topping success.

The fiftieth anniversary tour kicks off in Colorado with acoustic shows on Wednesday, February 25, and Thursday, February 26, at Beaver Creek’s Vilar Performing Arts Center.

“I won’t give it away, but there’s one really cool cover that we’re doing,” Bluestein says of the upcoming shows. “It’s a really special tune that predates Foreigner. Doing acoustic gives a chance to stretch in ways and play some new material that we don’t play with the electric show.”

The dates are the first of Foreigner’s ninety-plus appearances scheduled over the next year, including special Foreigner 4 sets with original vocalist Lou Gramm, a Las Vegas residency and European tour. But here’s the coolest thing about the Beaver Creek stop: The initial set is exactly fifty years to the day of Foreigner’s first rehearsal in New York.

“This was the day I first heard ‘Feels Like The First Time,’ and I knew we had something very special,” says original keyboardist Al Greenwood, the first musician recruited by founding guitarist Mick Jones.

Jones is still the only continuous member and remains heavily involved, but stepped away from touring in 2023 after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease years earlier. The current touring lineup includes Bluestein, bassist Jeff Pilson, guitarist Bruce Watson, drummer Chris Frazier and vocalist Luis Maldonado, who stepped in as full-time frontman following the retirement of longtime singer Kelly Hansen last year.

“When I started Foreigner in 1976, I never could have imagined that these songs would carry us through fifty years and still resonate with audiences around the world,” Jones shares. “This anniversary is a celebration not just of the music, but of the fans who have been with us every step of the way.”

At this point, Foreigner spans generations and is a part of pop culture. Stranger Things has featured several songs — “Cold as Ice,” “Hot Blooded” and “Waiting for a Girl Like You” —  and the band even performed on an Upside Down-themed float during last year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade to promote the show’s final season.

“Even having played them for almost twenty years, when they come on, it’s just like, ‘Wow.’ I get why there was a lightning-in-a-bottle-thing that happened with these tunes and Lou singing,” Bluestein shares. “Lou’s voice is a really big part of that. Certainly, it wouldn’t have made the mark it did without that voice.”

While Foreigner doesn’t plan on saying farewell anytime soon, this tour will be a good opportunity to celebrate all that the Rock & Roll Hall of Famers have accomplished.  

“We’ve been all over the world. We’ve become really tight, not only musically, but personally. It’s like a second family for me,” Bluestein adds. “We spent so much time on the road together. That’s really important. Thank God we have a really good chemistry together.

“It’s been a whirlwind. There are times to reflect. Now’s a good time,” he concludes. “In the near future, we’re not slowing down. We’re keeping it up. Full steam ahead.”

Foreigner, 6 p.m. Wednesday, February 25, and Thursday, February 26, Vilar Performing Arts Center, 68 Avondale Lane, Beaver Creek. Tickets are $175.