(Casper, WY) – Shoshoni Schools choir students got to be “Juke Box Heroes” at last night’s Foreigner concert, and you could definitely see “stars in (their) eyes.”
The October 1 concert took place last night at the Ford Wyoming Center, as a part of the band’s “Farewell” tour.
“We are not going to disappear off the face of the Earth,” front man Kelly Hansen reassured the crowd at the end of the show. “We’ll be around, just not as much.”
The night kicked off with openers and classic rock radio legends Loverboy, who closed their set out with “Turn Me Loose” and “Working for the Weekend,” which got attendees in the mood for the arsenal of hits that Foreigner had for their set.
Foreigner launched into “Double Vision” to open things up, followed by “Head Games,” “Cold As Ice,” “Waiting for a Girl,” “Dirty White Boy,” “Feels Like the First Time,” “Urgent,” “Juke Box Hero,” “Long Way,” and closed things out with “Hot Blooded.”
The penultimate song though, arguably one of their biggest tunes and definitely a classic rock ballad standard, was “I Want to Know What Love Is,” which had a backup crew of Fremont County youngsters from Shoshoni.
The choir, which is just now in its first year according to Director Coulter Neale, consisted of Shoshoni Schools students grades 7-12, and included: BreeAnna Sweeney (12) Brittney Sweeney (12), Alyssa Good (8), Michelle Hughes (8), Skylair Wintermote (8), Rhiannon Neale (7), Izzabelle Pucel (7), and Travis McFarland (9).
Neale recently told County 10 that Foreigner chooses local choirs to accompany them on stage “in an effort to support and advocate for school music programs,” and the Shoshoni choir was chosen to perform after they sent in a video submission.
Advocacy and giving back is obviously a passion for Foreigner, who also held a fundraiser at the beginning of the show where they donated t-shirt sale profits to the Shriner’s Club and gave away a signed guitar as a raffle prize for whoever bought a shirt and received a raffle ticket.
After the students performed, Hansen gave the kiddos a huge shoutout and shared/elaborated more on why they invite the choirs to sing with them when they perform across the country, which he explains in the video below.
“One of the reasons we have these beautiful and talented youth choirs on stage, is to remind everybody about the lack of funding for school music programs,” Hansen said to cheers from the crowd.
“This is an issue and problem all across the country. Music and the arts are the first thing to go and that’s a shame, because music and the arts can expand your mind and take you all across the world.”
“We need to keep that going,” Hansen continued, “and we need you guys to contact your local politicians and school boards and teachers, make a donation and help keep these beautiful people’s hopes and dreams alive.”
The excitement on the students’ faces could then be seen as they were each then given guitar picks from the band, and couldn’t help but give their best rock and roll screams when Hansen asked if they had fun.
Foreigner heads to Colorado Springs to perform tonight, and folks interested in keeping up to date with the Shoshoni Choir can check the district event calendar for any future performances.
