Jukebox And CanCon College Rock Heroes Belt Out The Hits At TD Place On October 28th

SAXON’s first full-length UK tour saw them co-headlining with the CLASH in 1979.

REM once opened for RATT at a two-day arts &crafts festival in California in 1984.

EXODUS and SUICIDAL TENDENCIES both opened for the RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS in the late 80’s on separate occasions.

In case you’re wondering about the whole point of this revelation of punk/alternative bands sharing a stage with metal bands in some sort of KNAC/KROQ forbidden hybrid love-in, in all of these cited aforementioned examples that had taken place, all of the mentioned bands were in the early stages of their careers. And these weren’t even random last-minute additions like you’d see at any music festival either, whether it was the ’83 US Festival or last year’s Ottawa Bluesfest; these were bona fide proper paired-up billings being intentionally advertised on a marquee and printed on a ticket stub.

And this pairing of a well-known 70’s hard rock act and a more nationally-known 80’s alternative rock band with little if anything musically in common outside of sharing room on FM classic rock radio was definitely no exception – except now they were sharing a stage together. And they both made it work.

As the slow galloping bass intro courtesy of Brad Merritt segues its way into their 1992 hit “Nice To Luv You”, openers 54-40take the stage dressed in blinding white and make some fine use of their 45-minute performance. The Delta, British Columbia-based rock band may be something of an unfamiliar name to the US market (though the term itself shouldn’t as it refers to then-US president James K. Polk’s battle cry of “54-40 or fight!” when he proposed annexing a section of British Columbia to be part of Oregon in the mid-1800’s) but in Canada, they’ve amassed 8 Juno Awards nominations and platinum status for four out of their 16 studio album catalogue. Their brand of dark-tinged yet otherwise catchy-sounding melodies will, to the casual outsider, draw more than their fair share of comparisons to REM though both bands had formed just nine months apart in 1980 – 54-40’s first-ever live debut even took place on the same night John Lennon was shot – so the sound comparisons are strictly just coincidence. Nevertheless, while initially seen as the last expected band to open for a more mainstream-sounding band from an earlier era and perhaps even viewed by some as the type of band that was the antithesis of the night’s headliner, 54-40 were an otherwise nice eclectic mix – and they weren’t strictly playing their greatest hits either as they followed up the brooding number “Baby Ran” with a new song titled “Running From The Fence” from their upcoming 17th album Porto. Recorded (obviously) in Portugal, the band didn’t want to risk recording their new album in the US according to frontman/guitarist Neil Osborne due to the country’s current political climate; recalling what their band name was inspired by, their stance does make sense. Luckily, this was about as close to covering current political events that 54-40 would be courting during their performance that night. Along with guitarist Dave Genn, drummer Matt Johnson, aforementioned bassist Brad Merritt and multitasking keyboard/saxophone/occasional percussionist David Osborne (presumably of some relation), Neil doled out some nicely entertaining performances that were anything by the numbers. They followed up with “I Go Blind” which briefly gave HOOTIE & THE BLOWFISH 5 minutes of street cred when they covered it in 1994, then continued with “One Day In Your Life” which was known for its fast-moving video montage Koyaanisqatsi style (though for some reason, that montage wasn’t shown on the giant overhead screen in the background as the band played) and featured the added bonus of a neat sax solo from David Osborne. Closing out the show, 54-40 included “She La” – perhaps one of the first modern rock songs about domestic violence culminating in just revenge – the 60’s style-sounding “Since When”, the okay-sounding “Casual Viewin’” which fused in a decent rendition of CCR’s “Have You Ever Seen The Rain” and the laid-back groove of “Ocean Pearl”, whose video featuring the band playing on a flatbed truck cruising down LA was a neat if not unintentional nod to DOKKEN’s “It’s Not Love”. If only there had been more use of the giant background screen during the show for the audience to make the distinction. That aside, 54-40 put on a performance outside of the bordering confines of the 80’s alternative college rock scene and happily put the gatekeepers in their place.

Setlist:

“Nice To Luv You”
“Baby Ran”
“Running ForThe Fence” (new and 3rd track from the upcoming album Porto)
“I Go Blind”
“One Day In Your Life”
“She La”
“Since When”
“Casual Viewin’”/”Have You Ever Seen the Rain” (CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL cover)
“Ocean Pearl”

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Musicals!
Memories!
Melodic-sounding local school choirs!
Miscellaneous singers!

Since their last visit to TD Place back in 2018, 70’s rock overlords FOREIGNER have made a couple of significant changes and updates in their touring career: A Broadway play titled Jukebox Hero: The Musical, featuring a cast of up-and-coming performers including Nova Scotia-born singer/actor Geordie Brown, who plays the subject of the famous song about an unknown’s rise to fame, and an upcoming documentary celebrating the band’s 50th anniversary.

And there’s also been a significant lineup change amongst the much-heralded band, with frontman Kelly Hansen having officially retired from the music industry altogether after his own 50-year career, concluding with his last appearance with the band this past summer. His replacement would be former guitarist-turned singer Luis Maldonado, who, in having made his own debut with FOREIGNER at a recent show in Mexico with the blessing from original frontman Lou Gramm, would be put to the test throughout the Canadian run of the tour.

As the opening crashing riff to “Double Vision” is thrown down, for many veteran fans, it’s hard to tell at first what is the most interesting current aspect of this new version of FOREIGNER: The fact that none of the original members are amongst the current touring lineup, or that with Kelly Hansen’s departure, bassist Jeff Pilson is now the second longest-serving band member in FOREIGNER after Mick Jones – even to the point that he’s played in FOREIGNER for almost twice as long as he’s played in DOKKEN. Fortunately, none of this takes away any of the entertainment factor throughout this performance. Maldonado’s vocals and overall stage presence are flawless and his engagement with the audience has already made him a fan favorite. Meanwhile, the rest of the band, including Pilson, guitarists Bruce Watson and John Roth, keyboardist Michael Bluestein and drummer Chris Frazier, deliver an impeccable performance that’s part studio-sounding perfection but also spontaneous and genuine. And if ever the definition of marauding were to best describe a well-established non-METALLICA bass player in concert, Jeff Pilson would fit that description accurately. Onwards, from the dramatic undertones of “Head Games” to the halting “Cold As Ice” and the melodic keyboard-driven flourish of “Waiting For A Girl Like You” (the latter allowing for Jeff, a longtime prog rock enthusiast, to flex his ivory-tickling skills as he glides through the keyboard intro effortlessly), FOREIGNER are delivering hundredfold on the entertainment value thus far – and then the first of a couple of scheduled appearances grace the stage as the sleazy-sounding opening riff to “Dirty White Boy” echoes throughout every vom and ingress in the venue. Looking every bit as at least 2/3’s of the implied song title, though his comfortable-looking athletic stage attire suggests that he’d probably gone for a jog along the Rideau Canal earlier before soundcheck, Geordie Brown lets Luis Maldonado briefly sit the song out and delivers a stellar performance on an already timeless hard rock classic. Then, Geordie takes a breather himself as Luis takes over on some acoustic renditions of “Say You Will” and a cover of SIMON & GARFUNKEL’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water”. And did I mention that Luis himself was one of the band’s guitarists prior to taking over as the new vocalist? He even showed off some of his decent flamenco playing skills prior to the acoustic set-up and did a fine job at improvising on the spot.

By the end of the show, the stage is the scene of more hits than it can manage. The uber-catchy “Feels Like The First Time” is followed by a rendition of the incendiary “Urgent” featuring Michael Bluestein’s impressive keytar solo replicating the late Junior Walker’s incendiary sax solo. Pretty sure that on their last visit, FOREIGNER had an actual saxophone player covering the song’s solo, but credit to Michael for still making that keytar wail with genuine passion. There was no mistaking the passion exuded during the performance of the tour’s namesake as Luis chimed out the starry-eyed lyrics to great aplomb.

How would you follow up an encore after that performance? With a high school choir and even more hits, obviously. And the band did just that as both Geordie andthe St. Francis Xavier High School Choiraccompanied them as special guests on the rousing ballad “I Wanna Know What Love Is”. Midway for some reason, a couple of ladies in the audience also decided to drop a couple of their own hits on each other, and during the least likely FOREIGNER song to ever rile up the blood. Reminded me of the similarly unironic circle pit at KISS’ Bluesfest performance of “I Was Made For Lovin’ You” because no one actually starts up a circle pit to disco any more than they would start up a brawl during a power ballad. Supposedly. Other than appear bemused at the whole unwinding spectacle taking place barely ten feet away from them as they performed, Luis, Geordie and Jeff could only just finish the song and let security intervene. Then they closed the set with “Hot Blooded”, also without the slightest bit of irony. That said, current FOREIGNER spokesperson/aspiring hard rock diplomat Jeff Pilson did otherwise address a more pressing conflict relating to current US/Canadian relations after the show, thanking the crowd and 54-40 for “giving FOREIGNER the opportunity to experience a truly Canadian tour despite the current differences between our two countries”.

It was a night of working out differences, casual viewin’ and 99.9% of the audience knowing what love is. And with proverbial stars in their eyes and then some.

Special thanks to both the jukebox heroes and the actual heroes of the evening in the form of my colleagues at TD Place for keeping the music flowing and the crowd flow orderly, whether helping with crowd control or working the merch store by Gate 2. Clearly nobody needed any instructions to know how to rock that night.

Setlist:

“Double Vision”
“Head Games”
“Cold As Ice”
“Waiting ForA Girl Like You”
“Dirty White Boy” (Geordie Brown lead)
“Say You Will” (acoustic, Luis Maldonado lead)
“Bridge Over Troubled Water” (SIMON & GARKFUNKEL cover, acoustic, Luis Maldonado lead)
“Feels Like The First Time”
“Urgent”
Keyboard/drum solo
“Juke Box Hero”

Encore:

“I Want To Know What Love Is” (Geordie Brown/Luis Maldonado duet w/ the St. Francis Xavier High School Choir)
“Hot Blooded”

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