Foreigner and Bryan Adams played a double bill at the new MGM Grand in Mashantucket, Connecticut, on 16 July. They are doing a tour together as two main acts; I think they take turns on who is opening. The night I went, it was Bryan playing first. I unfortunately missed the first couple of songs due to terrible signage (meaning, NO signage) at Foxwoods; they tell you at the main entrance to go right for self-parking and don’t bother mentioning anywhere that it’s about 2 miles to the hotel and requires either driving or taking two different shuttle buses. Two very, very slow shuttle buses, driven by people who, for instance, have no problem stopping in the middle of the road and getting out and going who knows where for five or ten minutes, leaving the bus full of passengers to wonder if perhaps he’s got a urinary problem. Anyway this mystery detour caused the entire bus to be late to the concert. WTF.

Full photo gallery and additional show information under the cut

After rushing inside and walking through the incredibly smoky casino (of COURSE you have to walk through the casino to get to the theatre) I went in and funnily enough ran into someone I had met at Dropkick Murphys last week. I think he was a security person there but he was just at the MGM for the show. I had to run to make it inside before the first three songs were up. I had gotten my photo pass and because the desk clerk had not given me the correct pass (I ended up getting it later), the one I got just said “official photo pass”–so even though I wasn’t on the list for Bryan Adams, I figured that meant that the one pass did cover both acts, so I went down front and took a few pictures. I stood off to the side because I wasn’t sure how many songs had been played; it turns out that that tiny spot I was in was the “official” photo spot. When Foreigner came on, security wouldn’t let me in the pit, wouldn’t let me go in front of the stage, wouldn’t let me go even into the aisle 10 feet over. I had to stand in one tiny spot about 40 feet from the stage, at an extreme angle, which is why most of the pictures are showing everyone’s right side. I got a few from another angle when the musicians came over and used the stage-right mic. I was also able to get repeated shots of a security guard’s head, since she was sitting directly in front of the stage and in my only line of sight to anyone in the band. Once again, WTF. They really ought to figure out a better way of doing things. I don’t think any of them [security] were wearing earplugs either, and they were all standing right next to the speakers all night. Huh. I thankfully did get some shots from my almost-last-row seat, which came out pretty damn good considering the distance–I had to zoom in and crop a LOT. A testament to the fabulous Nikon 24-70 f2.8 lens. That glass is pure sex on a camera.

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Anyway, it was a *really* good show. I forgot how many hit songs Bryan Adams has had. He sang all the old favorites–huge cheers when he started “Cuts Like A Knife”–plus some newer songs, including “Baby When You’re Gone,” for which he brought someone on stage from the audience to sing with him. He actually had to have two girls (women) come up because the first one didn’t know a single word. So off she went and another lucky person who said she was from the Cape and had driven 3 hours to see the show went up, and did a great job. That’s a night to remember for her!

Last song, for the encore, was “Run To You” and people were screaming and clapping and singing to it. Memories of blasting that while speeding down the highway in my very fast very red sports car that I bought when I was young and foolish. Good times.

Foreigner has changed their lineup quite a bit since their early days after being founded by Mick Jones, Ian McDonald, and lead singer Lou Gramm. Many changes, departures, and returns later, they are now a tightly performing group consisting of stalwart Jones, multi-instrumentalist Tom Gimbel on guitar, sax, and flute, bassist Jeff Pilson (formerly of Dokken), Michael Bluestein (I think) on keys, Jason Bonham (son of Zeppelin drummer the late John Bonham) on drums, and lead singer–going on 5 years or so–Kelly Hansen. And I didn’t think Kelly was going to be the same as Lou Gramm. Meaning, “as good.” It must be really hard to step into someone’s shoes like that, although Gramm has been gone for a while. But people don’t forget, and they especially don’t forget beloved and familiar lead singers.

Well they ought to, figuratively. (Of course nobody should truly forget Lou!) Kelly was really, REALLY good. Tons of energy–he was running practically all night. He also either was doing me a favor or was subconsciously drawn to the camera because he definitely got himself into just where I needed him to be for photographs, esp. given that I was having to stand in such a weirdly uncomfortable spot. The MGM isn’t doing anyone any favors by setting things up that way. I talked to many people there and they said they would not have minded if I blocked their view of the 4-foot-high stage for 30 seconds.

Anyway, Kelly: great voice–not all that common with guy singers–and a real “rock star” showmanship. He’s got a bit of a Steven Tyler/Mick Jagger thing going on, in his own way. I liked it. He did all the hits of my youth justice. They opened with “Hot Blooded” and playfully followed with “Cold As Ice” immediately after. One of the big highlights for me was when they tore into “Jukebox Hero” and in the middle of the song made a segue into Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love” for about 16 bars, in a salute to both Jason and his father, with Kelly doing his own fine version of a Robert Plant, and then just as imperceptibly segueing back into “Jukebox Hero.” Jason also did a several-minute drums solo; I think it was during these few minutes that I was able to get my only pictures of him since he was invisible from the angle I had had to shoot from earlier. After they played the first few songs and hadn’t gotten to “I Want To Know What Love Is,” I knew they’d save it for the encore, and they did. I saw a few people leave from my row when they thought the show was over and I almost shouted after them, “They’ve got another song, I promise!”

Technical info / equipment used

I brought two bodies, my Nikon D40 and D300; plus several lenses (all Nikon):

20mm f2.8
50mm f1.8
85mm f1.8
55-200mm f3.5 (which I didn’t use)
24-70mm 2.8 (what a beautiful, beautiful lens; I had rented one for this show and loved it so much I bought one the next day)

Lighting was generally better than I’ve seen it at other shows; sometimes I didn’t even need to go wide open. I was mostly at ISO 1000 or 1250; a few times I can see from the EXIF that I went up to 1600 and maybe even 3200. (I had it set to auto ISO, which I think I shouldn’t have done, or made the high-end lower.) For the shots from my seat in Row SS, I used both the 85mm and the 24-70, and even though the 85 is longer those pictures were all blurry because the lens doesn’t AF on the D40 and by that time I was getting pretty tired and it was just too hard to focus. But the D300 and 24-70 made up for it. I have cropped some of those down to a tiny portion of the original and enlarged maybe 500% and I bet only another photographer would be able to criticize the noise in them. I think I only used the 20 for a couple of shots; I tried the 50 but it was too short. The 85 was almost too short; that’s how far away I was. The 24-70 fully extended was too short but I could zoom in and crop so it turned out okay. Thank GOD I rented that or I’d have practically nothing from all that hassle to get down to CT.

Highly enjoyable show and it seemed that there were no unhappy people in the audience. That’s the best kind of show to be at.

All pictures are copyrighted to me; please contact me for permission before using. I’ll probably let you but you should ask, it’s only polite. Prints available, email me at meowhousemedia (at) gmail.com.