Foreigner Shows with Lou Gramm Made Mick Jones Cry on Stage

Foreigner founder Mick Jones has admitted that he was reduced to tears while he watched original singer Lou Gramm singing alongside current vocalist Kelly Hansen at their reunion shows earlier this year. The performances resulted in the complete settling of bad feeling that had existed between Jones and Gramm for a number of years, but which they’d started to put behind them in recent times.

“It was great,” Jones told New York's Q104.3. “I was sobbing and turning around, trying not [to cry]. It was very emotional – I just couldn’t keep it in. It was something that made me feel really good – like there had been a little bit of closure on the sore little moments of the past, and we washed over that.”

Asked about managing relations within the band and avoiding dramatic moments or legal battles, he noted, “It's sad to see that. You see bands like that when you're touring and traveling, and you see bands who are on shows, and you can tell immediately if they're having a good time or not. When they get on stage, you can almost tell what it's going to be like. I mean, they're good, but there's something missing – the heart, the warmth and the connection.

“Somehow, through the ups and downs, we’ve managed to keep a thread there, and that’s turned into more of a bond now. It went so well — everybody was really gelling together. Lou’s very often a little shier [but] he was having a ball. …I was wondering how it was going to, you know, if anything was going to really screw up – but it was completely the opposite. It was just great.”

Two 40th anniversary reunion shows were recorded for a later TV broadcast, to be followed by a DVD and album release. Both Jones and Gramm have discussed the possibility of further reunions.