Music keeps you young and Foreigner are living proof. Fifty years into their career, and after a recent successful “Farewell Tour,” the classic rock titans realized the band had too much vitality to call it quits.
The multi-platinum hitmakers who gave us enduring anthems like “Cold as Ice,” “Juke Box Hero” and “Urgent” have now risen from near-death to carry on the Foreigner legacy, with a new singer from within their own ranks, and a 2026 calendar brimming with everything from intimate unplugged sets, to symphonic collaborations, to this summer’s high-voltage arena rock of the Double Trouble Double Vision Tour with other icons, Lynyrd Skynyrd.
We caught up with Foreigner bassist and musical director Jeff Pilson to discuss the band’s evolution, his long history with Mick Jones and playing shows with the band’s original singer, Lou Gramm.
Q: Foreigner famously announced a “Farewell Tour” recently, but that seems to have evolved. What were some specific factors that convinced you to keep the machine running?
The main factor was that once we realized that Luis [Maldonado] was going to be able to carry us forward, nobody else wanted to stop. Originally, Kelly [Hansen] came to us and said, “Look, guys, I don’t want to tour anymore.” But once we realized we have a future with Luis as singer, the rest of us all wanted to continue. It felt like we were reinvigorated and inspired to carry on.
What new possibilities opened up when Luis stepped up to the mic?
Well, Luis speaks Spanish, so it really was a no-brainer that we do Spanish versions of the songs. They’re coming out amazing. We recorded “I Want to Know What Love Is” as a duet with Joy Huerta from Jesse & Joy, which is a huge band in Mexico.
You’ve also done some reunion shows with original vocalist Lou Gramm. What were those like?
We’re actually doing another run of shows with Lou for “Four and More,” where we do “Foreigner 4” in its entirety. It’s kind of the most iconic Foreigner album, and we love playing those deep tracks that don’t always make the standard setlist. But the record itself was only 42 minutes of music, and we have other hits that you just kind of got to play to give the fans a full two-hour experience. You can’t walk off stage without doing “I Want to Know What Love Is” or “Hot Blooded,” so we use the album as the core and then build the “More” part around the absolute essentials.
When you approach the orchestral shows, what do real strings offer that keyboards or guitars cannot?
An orchestra can be heavy in a way, just like a rock band. It can be just as heavy. I think cellos are a really great instrument to translate heaviness into a rock format. I think it’s just as effective as distorted guitars when done right. I still always prefer the sound of real strings just because there’s a human element to it that machines don’t quite have yet.
Working so closely with founder Mick Jones, you must have collected some incredible stories about his history in the classic rock pantheon. Does any specific anecdote stand out that captures his legacy?
Here’s a Mick Jones story for you. Do you know how he learned to play the intro of “Hey Joe” by Jimi Hendrix? In a tour bus. Because he was touring and Jimi was on the bus, and Jimi himself showed it to him.
Did he have any other standout encounters before Foreigner really took off?
Absolutely. In early 1964, Mick was playing with a French artist while The Beatles were doing a residency at the Olympia Theatre in Paris. As the curtain closed, it knocked Mick’s amp over. He went, “Oh, fuck” in English. And all of a sudden, he hears somebody go, “Oh man, you’re a Brit, gotta come up and join us.” It was John Lennon.
Every day after the shows, he would go up to the Beatles’ suite and party with them. He was in the suite when they received the telegram from Brian Epstein saying that “I Want to Hold Your Hand” had gone number one in the States.
