CONCERT REVIEW: Def Leppard can still deliver, bringing Spokane Arena a full bag of tricks and hits

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Anyone who wants to chalk up Def Leppard’s ongoing success simply to nostalgia for the band’s ’80s and early ’90s commercial heyday should probably ask themselves why most of the band’s peers from that era aren’t also consistently selling out arenas and amphitheaters in 2015.

The British rockers were a cut above from the very beginning of their career, crafting anthems full of killer hooks and impressive harmonies that stayed a part of their songwriting as they shifted from being an up-and-coming part of the so-called “New Wave of British Heavy Metal” to a pop-rock machine embraced by the mainstream with chart-topping albums like 1983’s Pyromania, 1997’s Hysteria and 1992’s Adrenalize.

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Foreigner’s lead singer cooks up more fans on ‘Chopped’

I’ve caught Foreigner live several times in recent years, on bills with Styx, Journey and other nostalgia acts. And I’ve always found myself impressed with lead singer Kelly Hansen.

Lou Gramm is the guy who originally sang all of Foreigner’s biggest hits, but he quit the group twice (in 1990 and 2003). Founding member Mick Jones tried out a few short-lived replacements before settling on Hansen, who has been in the band for a decade.

Hansen, 54, is terrific at his job. He emerged in the ’80s as the lead singer of the metal group Hurricane and spent time singing with other bands and doing session work before joining Foreigner. He not only looks the part (if you squint, he’s vaguely reminiscent of a younger Steven Tyler), but he also has the voice to back it up. He’s not a Gramm impersonator, but he has figured out how to sing Foreigner’s songs in a way that just sounds right.

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Keith Richards from Dartford gives revealing insight into the early influences of the Rolling Stones in new documentary Under The Influence

“I thought I was the only guy in the south east of England that knew anything about this stuff. By the time we got off the train we made a deal and that’s how the Stones hooked.”

This is rock legend Keith Richards describing the life-changing moment he rekindled a friendship with Mick Jagger at Dartford train station.

In the documentary “Under the Influence”, launched to coincide with the release of Richards’ first studio album in 23 years, Crosseyed Heart, his well-worn face is etched with glee as he recalls the day he saw Jagger in his train carriage with records by Muddy Waters and Chuck Berry tucked under his arm.

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Mick Jagger bowls in Nashville, where will he go next?

Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger continues to enjoy his time in Nashville after last Saturday’s appearance with Taylor Swift.

Following his visit to Radnor Lake earlier in the week, the rock legend decided to knock some pins over at a Nashville bowling alley.

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