Foreigner is set to headline the Endymion Extravaganza this Saturday night at the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, and WWL’s Scoot checked in with the band’s singer and keyboardist, Michael Bluestein, ahead of the show.
“It’s hard not to have a blast in New Orleans,” said Bluestein, who joined the legendary rock band in 2008. He told Scoot that he’s excited to grab some gumbo at Red Fish Grill while the band is in town.
During the upcoming Endymion Extravaganza Mardi Gras celebration, Darius Rucker is also expected to take the stage. This year, the Krewe of Endymion’s parade theme is “Endymion Salutes the Poets.”
“Foreigner is in the category of rock royalty,” said Scoot of the band, which was founded in the late 1970s. Around a year ago, one of its co-founders, Ian McDonald, passed away at age 75.
Mick Jones, 77, another founding member of the rock band, is expected to show up doing the band’s “Historic Farewell Tour” this summer.
“We’re hoping as much as possible,” said Bluestein, who said that the music icon hasn’t been able to join the group much in recent years – and added that Jones likely won’t be at the show Saturday. “He is our founding member and leader.”
According to the Foreigner website, the farewell tour will run from early July through early September.
Bluestein said the band is “going out in a way where it’s still really being done well, you know, but not pushing it too far beyond that as far as the time goes,” and at a time when the members can take some time to spend with their families.
Scoot and Bluestein also discuss the keyboardist’s early days playing classical piano, the “unglamorous” side of being a rock star and whether Beethoven had groupies. Listen to the whole conversation here.
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