After two decades as the voice of FOREIGNER, Kelly Hansen officially closed the curtain on his tenure with the legendary rock band during a pair of emotional farewell performances at Hard Rock Live at Etess Arena in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on October 10 and 11.
The shows marked the end of a chapter that began in 2005, when Hansen stepped in as lead vocalist and helped usher the band into a new era of touring and recording. His departure, announced earlier this year during FOREIGNER’s appearance on the season finale of NBC’s The Voice, included a symbolic “passing of the torch” to guitarist Luis Maldonado.
Before launching into the band’s iconic ballad “I Want To Know What Love Is,” bassist and musical director Jeff Pilson addressed the crowd with heartfelt words about Hansen’s impact on the band and on him personally.
He said (as transcribed by Blabbermouth): “You just saw, we are very ready for the future but very excited about the future. But before we do, before we get there, let’s acknowledge tonight. This is a big night for us, and in many ways it’s very special for me personally because I’ve been with this guy for 20 years. And usually I talk about what an amazing singer he is, ’cause he is. I talk about what an incredible performer he is, because he really, really, I think, is one of the finest performers in rock. But what I’d like to talk about right now briefly is about what a great human being he is.”
Pilson’s tribute painted a picture of a band not just bonded by music, but by deep friendship and shared history.
“You guys know how great he sings and performs, but what you don’t know is how funny he is, how much he plays my straight man when I prank everybody, which I do as much as I can,” Pilson continued. “You don’t know about the in jokes that we have all the time. I mean, this band has its own language. And Kelly and I have 20 years of it. Most of the rest of the band has close to that. So we are a brotherhood, we are a family, and we’re a really lucky family because we’ve got Lou [Gramm, original FOREIGNER singer] and [original FOREIGNER keyboardist] Al [Greenwood] and [classic-era FOREIGNER bass player] Rick [Wills] and everybody who oftentimes comes out and hangs with us and is part of our family. But tonight we are saying a very loving goodbye to someone who has made such a difference with this band, and he’s been so important in helping take it to where it’s right now. So please help me — a very emotional me, a very emotional all of us — say, one last time, thank you to the man that I’m about to introduce, Mr. Kelly Hansen.”
When Hansen took the mic, he brought the entire band onstage for a group hug and began a deeply personal thank-you speech that touched on every corner of his journey—from the crew and management to fans, friends, and his wife.
Kelly then walked to center stage and addressed the crowd: “Thank you. Thank you very much. I just wanna take a couple of minutes… And I had to bring my phone out with me so I could look at my notes. If I can, I’d like to get all the bandmembers up here. I just wanna do one group hug. Secondly, I just wanna thank the crew. There are many people who, every day, drive long hours in the middle of the night to get here very early in the morning to set up this gear, to set up these lights to make us look and sound as good as we possibly can. And I just wanna take a moment to thank all of the crew, many of whom have been with us a really long time. And I thank you guys. And then, after that, I wanna thank the management of this band.
“So when you’re in a band, you want a manager, or managers — Phil Carson and Stewart Young are our managers — and you want managers who push to get things for you as opposed to a guy who doesn’t push to get things for you. Phil Carson‘s over here. He’s English. And many times we’ve clashed because he wants to do some crazy bulls**t thing and I have to call him out and I have to say, ‘No, we can’t do it.’ And he’s still here. This man is a f**king juggernaut and he’s 80 years old and he’s a motherf**ker. Along with Merrie Hart and Stewart, they’ve just done amazing things for this band over 20 years.
“Still on my list — you guys,” Kelly continued. “If I could even string together the number of times that I’ve had experiences with fans — or I don’t like to call you guys fans; I like to call you guys people who love music, appreciate music. My whole life, since I was 17, it’s been great people who come to shows. Thank you for that.
“I have a whole bunch of friends who support me. I have many friends who have traveled a long way to be here tonight, and I wanna say thank you to all of them, because when it comes down to it, it’s friends and family — it’s friends and family, really.
“And one last thing: I wanna thank my wife. [She] changed my life. I got married for the first time at 59 years old.
“So that’s my list. And just thank you, guys, for being here. Thank you, guys. And I’m speaking collectively to not only you guys who are here tonight, but whoever might be viewing this on the Internet sometime later. Thank you all for all of your support.
“I’ve been in this business, I think, about 48, 49 years. I put in my time. I spent 20 years with this fantastic band singing a catalog of songs that a singer couldn’t dream of. And thank you.”
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