Foreigner: Live Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

Foreigner: Live Blu-ray Movie Review

Feels like the first time.

Reviewed by Casey Broadwater July 21, 2011

No, I’m not referencing Foreigner’s hit song, “Feels Like The First Time,” I’m talking about the fact that this new Foreigner: Live Blu-ray release feels a lot like the one that was originally put out by WTTW National Productions way back in 2008. And that’s because it is. This is the same concert, the same footage, the same editing, the same everything, with a few major additions. The previous release cut several songs from the night’s set list—causing some fans to cry foul—but they’ve all been restored here in this new edition by Image Entertainment, the studio that now owns the Blu-ray distribution rights for PBS’s Soundstage concert series. If you bought the now-out-of-print old edition, I don’t see much of a reason to upgrade—unless you’re hardcore about your love of all things Foreigner and can’t live without those extra songs—but this is certainly the best version to pick up if you don’t yet own a copy.

Perhaps it’s because my own father was a big fan, but I’ve always thought of Foreigner as one of the key practitioners of “dad rock” in the 1980s. (For reference, I’d say Coldplay filled that role in the 2000s.) They didn’t shred quite as mammothly as some of the harder hitting acts of the late- Carter, early-Reagan era, preferring a blues-inspired, keyboard-layered approach that put them in league with bands like Journey, REO Speedwagon, and Bad Company. Alternating between fist-pumping riff-heavy numbers and epic power ballads, the band found mainstream commercial success, eventually selling over 70 million records.

Over thirty years later, they’re still at it, although Foreigner’s lineup is drastically different here from what it was in their mid-‘80s heyday. The only constant has been English co-founder and guitarist Mick Jones, who has guided the band through its various iterations and written, or co-written, many of their hit songs. Since 2005, lead vocals have been performed by former Hurricane frontman Kelly Hansen, whose voice is at times strikingly similar to original singer Lou Gramm’s. He comes across a bit like a Steven Tyler wannabe—what’s with these aging rockers and their horrible fashion choices?—but he’s a fairly charismatic showman, strutting around on stage, pumping up the crowd, and once even jumping down into the middle- aged audience to dance during a particularly lengthy keyboard solo. Long-haired ex-Dokken bassist Jeff Pilson bangs his head shaggily throughout the show, while erstwhile Aerosmith touring band multi-instrumentalist Tom Gimbel blends into the background, alternately playing rhythm guitar, saxophone, and flute. (Yes, flute.) Keyboardist Michael Bluestein looks like he probably wasn’t even born yet when Foreigner first formed, and drums are provided by another relative youngster—Jason Bonham, son of Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham.

The amalgamated sextet plays through a sixteen-song set that includes all of Foreigner’s biggest hits, from “Cold As Ice” to the lighter-lofting “I Wanna Know What Love Is,” which sounds like a contemporary Christian praise and worship song. (Or is that the other way around?) The general blues-rock vibe is broken up by a few deviations from the band’s normal style. For “Say You Will,” all the members come to the front of the stage for a special acoustic arrangement of the song, and “Starrider”— a Mick Jones-penned tune from the band’s first album—goes all British pastoral/folksy on us, complete with a Tom Gimbel’s breathy flute tones. Kelly Hansen also introduces “Too Late,” a “brand new Foreigner song,” but the hungry- for-favorites crowd greets this unfamiliar tune with only as smattering of lukewarm applause. (I don’t blame them.) Highlights from the rest of the show include an almost comically long drum solo from Jason Bonham—just when you think he’s done, he pauses, then launches back in again—and the band’s ode to Elvis, “Dirty White Boy,” which Hansen also dedicates to “all you naughty girls.”

Track List:
Night Life
Head Games
Cold As Ice
Waiting For A Girl Like You
Too Late
Say You Will
Long, Long Way From Home
Double Vision
Blue Morning, Blue Day
Dirty White Boy
Starrider
Feels Like The First Time
Urgent
Juke Box Hero
I Want To Know What Love Is
Hot Blooded

Foreigner: Live Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Foreigner: Live looks fantastic on Blu-ray, with a 1080i/AVC-encode that—I'm sure—looks better than the concert's original PBS broadcast. Shot digitally, the picture has a satisfyingly crisp and colorful appearance. High definition detail is always visible, from the texture of Mick Jones' shockingly white, stand-straight-up hair to the fine lines of the performers' instruments. Everything looks cleanly resolved, with no evidence of excessive edge enhancement. What makes this disc look truly great, however, is just how vibrant the lighting arrangements are, bathing the stage in deep purples and moody blues, cherry reds and blinding yellows. The look changes with just about every song. Black levels can seem a bit hazy at times, but contrast is strong and the image has a nice sense of pop and depth. Likewise, you will spot some source noise, especially in darker and longer shots, but there are no overt signs of compression—banding, macroblocking, etc. No problems here.

Do note that as it was practically impossible to capture screengrabs in 1080i—due the constantly moving camera and resultant combing artifacts—all screenshots in this review were captured in 720p and do not reflect the full picture quality of the image.

Foreigner: Live Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The disc has two audio options. The default is a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track, but there's also the option of a LPCM 2.0 stereo mixdown for those without multi-channel capabilities. Both put out some serious noise—and I mean that in a good way. The stereo track is punchy and —obviously—seems more condensed, with all the instrumentation packed into two channels, but it sounds great when you crank up the volume. The 5.1 mix is even better—a bit more spacious, with light crowd ambience panned into the rears and slight musical bleed. (That is, no instruments are outright positioned in the surround channels, but you will hear residual sound that works its way back from the front.) Guitars are crunchy and bright, drum hits land with intensity, and the bass undercurrent is low and defined. Vocals are clear and powerful as well, cutting cleanly through the rest of the mix but never feeling disproportionately loud. Finally, I didn't catch any hisses, crackling, pops, or drop-outs. Fans should be pleased.

Foreigner: Live Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

No bonus features to be found here, unfortunately.

Foreigner: Live Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Foreigner: Live was previously released in 2008, but along with better cover art, this new version adds four previously omitted songs to the set- list, which might coax some of the band's more dedicated followers to abandon their old copies. Otherwise, the discs are pretty similar. The high definition transfer is excellent and the lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track puts out quite a lot of sound. Obviously, this is release is for fans only.