My job back then was to go backstage and interview these top flight bands for the radio and I will never forget seeing the guys from Foreigner, just before they were to go onstage before 15 thousand fans, just lying there on these couches, almost like they were completely exhausted, which they were.
It was about 15 minutes before they went onstage, and I asked them, while they were lying there, looking so tired, how they managed to perform their music. To a man they said it was their fans. All the shows, the non-stop traveling...all of that brought on an exhaustion which was hard to describe.
Foreigner was the number one band in the world at that point, and I watched them as they walked to the stage, their bodies slumped over, their heads down. Then the thousands of waiting fans, seeing them, roared their approval and Foreigner came to life.
The cheers from the crowd literally lifted them, infusing them with an energy that seemed totally vacant only minutes before.
They played their string of hits, and I watched from just offstage how they sucked in the energy from those loud cheers and gave it right back to them.
And then the concert was over. Foreigner left the stage and I could see how high they were from the crowd noise, their clothes drenched with sweat. Then I watched as the crowd filed out, the roadies started dismantling the massive stage amplifiers and then it was just almost total silence.
It was amazing. Just a short hour ago, the stadium had pulsed with energy, and now, nothing.
Foreigner was off to another city, and another stadium filled with cheering fans. And the next band was coming in. A band called Styx, which meant more interviews for me and more backstage memories.
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