JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) — The iconic rock band Foreigner performed at Freedom Hall on Wednesday night on their Farewell Tour.
The Dobyns-Bennett High School choir was also chosen to sing alongside the band to the hit song “I Want To Know What Love Is.”
Local radio station WQUT reached out to the choir asking them to audition. They submitted an audition video, and that’s how they booked the gig.
The choir found out they were chosen less than two weeks ago.
“They all were familiar with it [“I Want To Know What Love is”] anyway,” Patty Denmark, Dobyns-Bennett Choir Director said. “So we’ve just been kind of singing it with the YouTube video every day.”
Choir member, Delaney Young, said she feels extremely lucky to get this opportunity and have the Dobyns-Bennett choir chosen.
“I love performing and I’m excited to be on stage with [a] super popular and great band, that is just one of the greatest of all times,” Young said. “I’m really excited to be able to go on stage and perform with them and I think it’s a great opportunity.”
Denmark said “I Want To Know What Love Is” is a song she has known all her life.
“So, I’m really thrilled because I’ve loved Foreigner since I was in high school myself and that these kids get to sing with them is just great,” Denmark said.
Foreigner bass player Jeff Pilson said their band is set on helping public school music programs. At each of their shows on this tour, $500 is donated to a school’s music program. At Freedom Hall, the proceeds came from money from local Shriners who sold Foreigner’s Greatest Hits CDs at the concert.
Foreigner also contributes to this effort by donating all the funds from the Shriner’s CD sales to the Grammy Foundation and the Shriner’s Children’s Hospitals.
Dobyns-Bennett’s chorus program is the recipient of the donation from the Freedom Hall concert.
“And then we get to watch [the choir] up there singing and it’s the best thing in the world because they’re so excited and we get to kind of see through their eyes,” Pilson said. “It’s amazing.”
Pilson also shared advice to younger music artists by saying they have to be passionate.
“Listen to your gut and really follow that and take wherever that leads you is probably the right direction,” Pilson said. “Do that passionately and at 150%, you’re going to come out great every time.”
The concert at Freedom Hall was packed. The venue pushed back the start time because people were still trying to get in the door at the original start time.
The next stop on Foreigner’s Farewell Tour is in Elizabeth, Indiana.
