Foreigner and Lynyrd Skynyrd Rocked Mystic Lake Ampitheater

Howdy Folks!

Opening up the night, we had Six Gun Sally, who didn’t quite have a full crowd yet (so far, I’ve noticed with this venue, people really like to meander), but they still put on a fun show nonetheless.

They clearly have had a lot of fun on stage together, and the lead vocalist was great at interacting with the crowd and her fellow bandmates, and I think they were a great fit for opening up the night and warming people up to a great night of rock and roll.

My only thing with this band was that it seemed like it was the space kind of getting used to the sound for the night- hearing the distinct vocals was a little hard, and catching the lyrics wasn’t super easy, but nonetheless it was a solid, fun set. I’m interested in seeing them perform at an indoor venue sometime, later at night and with more of a crowd, and I feel they’d land a lot better!

Secondly, and frankly my personal favorite time of the night, we had Foreigner take up the stage for their headliner set, and this was absolutely incredible to see live.

For me, Foreigner is an almost daily listen. With my workplace being full of varying ages and types of people, when I play music to keep everybody moving around, I usually stick to some 70’s/80’s mix, but on almost every playlist, there’s some Foreigner in there. Finally getting to hear a lot of these songs live that i listen to on the daily was super, super fun for me, and I gotta say, how interactive the band was with the photographers in the pit, and even with people in the crowd, it was an absolute blast of a show. I even got a fun video from my seat of the lead singer pointing directly at me and smiling, which was a fun personal moment as well.

The band pulled from pretty much all over their discography, playing most of their maor hits, but i think the part that really got me was how personal they got with their songs, and taking the time to really go in depth about them in between, introducing band members, having fun solo moments, and really jsut showing how incredible the band really is, and what a stage presence they have.

Later on, their encore presented a super fun thing- a local school’s chamber choir (which i didn’t get the schools name, but if you were part of this choir, go you!) joined them on stage to sing “I Wanna Know What Love Is” and the lead vocalist talked a lot about how they are the future, and that they love to do things like this when possible, to really uplift the next generation of musicians. I can say that if I were those kids, it’d be a memory I wouldn’t be able to forget!

Overall, this was one of the best concerts I’ve seen in a long time personally, and I really hope I get the chance to see them again sometime in the future. Lovely visuals, super interactive band, and clearly they’re still doing it for the love of the game. Long Live Foreigner!!

Lastly, closing us out was the highly anticipated Lynyrd Skynyrd, and while I had a good time, admittedly, I was left a little disappointed. I don’t want to sugarcoat this one, as I think I had some higher expectations of what the show was really going to be, but I was almost immediately slapped with some modern reality in their opening “promo” esque video. To be frank, it seemed AI. Now, of course, I can’t confirm it, but with its increasing popularity, I wouldn’t be surprised, and it did give off a lot of those vibes and looks, so I was just a little put off immediately. However, the next thing that just kinda made me check out a little was the band’s energy. Immediately from the get-go, this wasn’t a performance put on for the people; it was one put on just to have one, at least that's how it felt and was portrayed to me. Not a ton of emotion or big take-it-away energy from anyone, really, and that was a bit disappointing to see, in all honesty. Now, I know these guys have been at it for a long time, of course, but, in my humble non-touring opinion, if you’re putting yourself out there, you gotta give it all. Hell, Foreigner even touched on this point, talking about how their director and bassist say every show they “don’t need to give 100, or 110%, they need to give it their ALL” every show- and that’s awesome! I just didn’t see that much from L.S., and would have loved to.

Musically, however, things sounded pretty good overall, good mix, guitar solos were really clean, but again, the energy just wasn’t there, so it did fall a bit flat. However, the crowd did seem to be generally having a good time. I didn’t get to see reactions from the bleacher area (levels 2+, this place is so massive, man), but the guests on the main floor and pit were definitely having a good time, and I didn’t see hardly anyone sitting in their seats during their set!

L.S. went through a lot of their catalog, opening up with MCA, What’s Your Name, and Smell, going on later to songs like Curtis Lowe and Tuesdays Gone, ultimately ending with Alabama, and fully finishing the night with the ever-so-fabled Freebird.

Generally a solid show, I definitely had a lot more fun with Foreigner, but I know the people of MN turned up for all three bands in droves!