Original Foreigner lead singer Lou Gramm has been forced to pull out of the band’s “Double Vision: Then & Now” tour, two days before it was scheduled to begin, due to “a severe respiratory infection, dehydration and fatigue.” The vocalist was planning to join other original members along with Foreigner’s current lineup. The band made the announcement today (October 1); the brief tour opens Thursday, Oct. 3 at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn.
From Foreigner’s Facebook page: Lou Gramm was hospitalized at the Unity Hospital at Park Ridge in Rochester, NY last week with a severe respiratory infection, dehydration and fatigue. He had hoped to be ready to appear during the Foreigner Double Vision: Then & Now tour, and some scheduled shows with Asia. Unfortunately, at his follow up appointment today, his doctor pronounced him unable to perform at these shows.
The Foreigner Double Vision: Then & Now tour will go on with other original members as they join Mick Jones and the current lineup of Foreigner.
Mick Jones said, “We will all miss Lou at our upcoming shows and we join all his family, friends, and fans in wishing him a speedy recovery.”
Gramm, who turned 69 on May 2, said, “I’m very disappointed about not being able to perform at the ‘Foreigner Double Vision: Then & Now’ shows for all the fans. My doctor insists if I pushed myself to perform, I would be in big trouble. So doctor’s orders, I ride the bench. Rock on!”
Requests for refunds may be addressed to the appropriate place of purchase of the original ticket order prior to the concert date. Tickets for Foreigner’s 2019 tour are available here.
On November 15, Foreigner will release Foreigner – Double Vision: Then And Now, a CD+DVD release via EARMusic that goes behind the scenes as original Foreigner band members Gramm, Al Greenwood, Dennis Elliott, Ian McDonald and Rick Wills, joined Jones and Foreigner’s current lineup – Kelly Hansen, Tom Gimbel, Jeff Pilson, Michael Bluestein, Bruce Watson and Chris Frazier – for a reunion concert for the very first time in the band’s 40-year history. The concert was held at Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort in Mount Pleasant, Mich., in October 2017.
Watch the trailer from the concert release
Related: The inside story of Foreigner’s debut album
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