Photos and review by: Alan Ralph @ARPhotoSF
WAIT, WHAT… A SHOW REVIEW!! Yes!
With all of the venues in San Francisco having been shuttered since March 2020, and without knowing just how much longer Covid-19 is going to keep them closed, Spinning Platters grew tired of the waiting and decided to look far and wide to other places in pursuit of a Real. Live. Show.
Granted, many of these other places are less safe than the cautious San Francisco (recall that SF was the first city in America to institute a lockdown), but Spinning Platters is vaccinated and willing to risk it all for you! Where did we find such an amazing live event? Well, since our rock/metal photographer has been riding out the latter part of this pandemic in Florida, we found that shows actually happen there.
Florida never really closed. Maybe for a month or so when the sh*t hit the fan worldwide, but they reopened just as quickly, because health and safety of its people is of the utmost concern to their leaders. 
Yet there are actually places in Florida that do still care. Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater is a wonderful 2,200 seat theater that has “received rave reviews from artists, technicians and audience members since opening in 1983… and has been recognized as one of Tampa Bay’s best concert halls numerous times as well as a finalist for Pollstar’s Theater of the Year twice.” (TripAdvisor)
Although Ruth Eckerd Hall has been reopened since April 2020, they started off by hosting only small socially distanced events in their lobby with local area musicians, among them Robin Zander of Cheap Trick and jazz legend Chick Corea. In December 2020, they decided to open up their 2,200 seat theater at 50% capacity with a strict mask mandate and have successfully had a wide range of rock performances from The Beach Boys, Kansas, Joe Bonamassa, Night Ranger, Collective Soul, and classic rock legends Foreigner.
In fact, Spinning Platters was incredibly lucky to photograph and attend one of Foreigner’s inaugural Florida shows! After live music, theater, performances and tours have been canceled and closed down across the country for so long, Foreigner decided it was time, and so they took to the stage to perform four special concerts. Two were at Ruth Eckerd Hall and the other two in Orlando at another safe space, with a specially built outdoor stage with socially distanced audience ‘pods’.
On May 22, 2021, with the dust and cobwebs sufficiently removed from the camera, we entered Ruth Eckerd Hall in anticipation of photographing the rock and roll legends for one of their two shows! Unfortunately, Mick Jones, the sole remaining original member, apparently had second thoughts. Not sure why, because after fourteen months of canceled shows and tours, these four long-awaited shows should have reminded him how it Feels Like the First Time (sorry… couldn’t resist) that they performed on a stage.
The supporting cast of Kelly Hansen, Jeff Pilson, Michael Bluestein, Chris Frazier, Bruce Watson, and Luis Maldonado did an exemplary job though. Billed as The Greatest Hits of Foreigner, that is exactly what they did! Just look at this list…
Double Vision
Head Games
Cold as Ice
Waiting for a Girl Like You
That Was Yesterday
Dirty White Boy
Feels Like the First Time
Urgent
keyboard and drum solo
Juke Box Hero
Long, Long Way From Home
I Want to Know What Love Is
Hot Blooded
Aside from the ten minutes worth of keyboard and drum solos, as well as a lot of pandemic-related remarks from Kelly Hansen in between songs, this show was simply hit after hit after hit after hit after hit! Semi-original bassist Rick Wills (1979-1991) even appeared at this show for the last two songs. Does that make up for Mick Jones not being there? Probably not, but the band is so tight that it’s doubtful anyone noticed.
Foreigner has a bunch of summer shows planned for The Greatest Hits of, as well as summer 2022 with Kansas and Europe (The Final Countdown). Hopefully, Mick feels better and kicks ass this summer (and next) with the rest of his guys!
Click on any photo below for a slideshow of full-size images.
See more photos of all of your favorite Rock musicians at Alan Ralph‘s photo portfolio.
