Foreigner is approaching the final leg of its two-year farewell tour. Bassist Jeff Pilson, in a recent interview with Bass Musician Magazine’s Raul Amador, revealed the reasons behind this decision, emphasizing the band’s desire for a change in lifestyle.
Pilson opened up about the impact of constant traveling on the band members’ lives. Sharing why it’s the right time for Foreigner to bid farewell to the scene, he said:
“It’s traveling. It’s family. It’s all that stuff combined. We’re not that young, so there is all that. And basically, we wanna have a life; it would be nice to have more of a life. I mean, my daughter is in college now. I’ve missed a lot of stuff with her, and so I wouldn’t mind going home and spending a little more time in my studio ’cause, boy, do I love to record in my studio.”
Pilson’s Reflections on the Farewell Tour
The farewell tour, which began in 2023, is set to conclude in 2024 with a series of shows, including a run with fellow rockers Styx. The tour also features a residency titled ‘Feels Like The Last Time Farewell Tour’ at The Venetian Theatre in Las Vegas. It marks the end of the band’s era of extensive touring, a decision driven by the members’ wish to spend more time on personal endeavors and with family.
In the same interview, the bassist revealed whether Foreigner would continue making music after the tour:
“There may be something going on in ’25; we just haven’t heard yet. But what I will tell you is that the end of ’24 will be the end of our long tours. That’s really what we mean by this farewell tour. We’re not gonna do the long tours anymore. No more nine months of the year on the road. That will end at the show in Vegas. There may be some other things happening in ’25. We’ll see. It’s all kind of to be determined, but the gist of it is that we don’t want to do those long tours anymore, and that’s what’s going by the wayside.”
Foreigner’s frontman Kelly Hansen previously clarified that the extension of the tour to include the STYX dates was always part of a pre-planned two-year farewell.
Details of Foreigner’s Farewell Shows
The current Foreigner lineup, alongside Pilson and Hansen, includes founding member Mick Jones, keyboardist Michael Bluestein, guitarists Bruce Watson and Luis Maldonado, and drummer Chris Frazier.
Despite the farewell tour, Pilson hinted at the possibility of the band continuing to perform on a smaller scale post-2024. He claimed that it didn’t mean a complete retirement, as they might still do shows for special events. The specifics of these potential performances, however, remain undecided.
Details of the final shows of the farewell tour can be seen on Foreigner’s official website, where fans can grab their tickets as well.
You can watch the rest of Jeff Pilson’s interview with Raul Amador below.
