At Belleville’s intimate Lincoln, Foghat will be like ‘four maniacs’ in your living room

Over more than 50 years as a touring band, Foghat has rocked venues as large as Dallas’ Cotton Bowl and as famous as the Whiskey A-Go-Go in Los Angeles.

The classic “boogie rock” band’s next scheduled show will be decidedly more intimate and its stage far less known, at least outside the metro-east.

Foghat, whose top-selling singles include “Slow Ride,” will perform at the 580-seat Lincoln Theatre in Belleville on April 14. The show begins at 8 p.m. with doors opening an hour earlier. Most remaining tickets are $80, with an $8 service fee if they’re ordered online. Some seats in the side sections near the back are available for $65 each.

Roger Earl, the band’s drummer and one of its founding members, said Foghat has played three “practice shows” in preparation for the kickoff of its aptly named “Road Fever” tour. The Belleville concert will be the first of at least 30 more at venues both large and small.

Earl counted down the reasons a venue like the Lincoln Theatre has become a preferred destination.

“It’s terrific that they have preserved the building. There was a time when they were literally knocking down old theaters like this,” he said by phone from his Long Island, New York home. “They are so much more intimate with 500 to 1,000 screaming people who like our music and want us to be there. The acoustics are often really fantastic.

“If we do our part, it’ll be like four maniacs playing right in your living room.”

Lincoln as a concert venue

The Lincoln Theatre has its roots as a vaudeville play house in the 1920s before becoming one of Belleville’s movie theaters. Though it still screens motion pictures, co-owner Dave Schoenborn has brought the venerable downtown venue back to its roots with a regular slate of live acts.

Last year’s concerts included a return engagement of country music stars Wynonna Judd and Jo Dee Messina, plus Colin Hay, the former lead singer for the Australian rock band Men Without Hats.

When Schoenborn and his wife and business partner, Sandy Schoenborn, conceived of the notion that their little Lincoln Theatre could find renewed purpose as a live entertainment venue, they didn’t foresee names the likes of Wynonna Judd’s on their marquee.

“But we’ve found that there is a group of performers that really enjoy the intimate venues,” Schoenborn said. “It’s no hassle to get in and out, the seats are close, and the people who come are the real fans so they’re having fun.

“Wynonna Judd came back a second time and we had her husband (actor and composer Cactus Moser) crawling all over the building looking for a souvenir. He was like ‘you don’t have something laying around that you don’t use, do you?’ They love it here.”

Customers, too, have been positive about their experiences seeing live music at the Lincoln, Schoenborn said.

“You’re up close. Even if you’re in the last row, you’re still just 60 feet from the stage,” he said. “That’s a VIP seat at a big venue.”

Apart from Foghat, the 2023 live music slate also includes The Schwag, a Grateful Dead tribute band, and The Boxmasters, an American rock group fronted by Academy Award-winning actor Billy Bob Thornton.

Schoenborn said he’ll soon have details on a show by Crystal Gayle, the younger sister of legend Loretta Lynn who scored her own cross-over hit in 1977 with “Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue.”

“We’re in Belleville, so we thought we’d really attract the Belleville people with the idea that they could see quality entertainment without having to drive,” he said. “But we’re attracting customers from all around the country. For the Jo Dee Messina, we had people from at least four states and I know we have people coming from Florida to see Foghat.

“We’ve learned a lot and we’re always working to make the experience a little better for the customers.”

“Roll ‘til I’m old”

Foghat has released 20 albums, including its eponymous debut in 1972, mixing blues, hard rock and boogie with a slide guitar to create its signature sound. It’s released eight gold records, one platinum and reached double platinum sales with “Foghat Live” in 1977.

Other songs that charted in both the United States and the United Kingdom include “Fool for the City,” “I Just Want to Make Love to You,” “Drivin’ Wheel,” and “Stone Blue.”

Original front man Dave Peverett — who Earl identified as the inspiration for Tom Petty’s hit “Lonesome Dave” — died in 2000. Rod Price and Craig MacGregor have both died.

But Bryan Bassett has been with the group for 24 years after having played lead guitar for another 70s funk and rock band, Wild Cherry (“Play that Funky Music”). Other current members include bass player Rodney O’Quinn and lead singer Scott Holt.

And then there’s Earl, who turns 77 years old next month and is coming off shoulder surgery in December to repair a snow-shoveling injury.

“I’m glad I’m still here and I’m glad that I can still play,” he said through laughs in his English accent. “You know, I’m one of the fortunate few in this world that gets to earn a living doing something I love doing. And I play in a great (expletive) band with a great organization backing us.

“My plan is to rock ‘til I drop and roll ‘til I’m old.”

New music

Foghat continues to record new music, including a double CD/DVD release titled “8 Days on the Road” from 2021 and a recently-mixed studio album of new music and covers that has yet to be titled.

“There are six original songs and six not-originals,” said Earl. “Every January, February and March, we talk about new songs. We tour the country every year and want to change it around a little bit. So we start jamming on songs and somebody says ‘nobody has done that song for years, so let’s put the Foghat stamp on it.

“We’ll sell anywhere from 10 to 10,000 CDs, not a million. Times change, as they should, so at this point it’s all about the music for us.”

Lane Narrows, a four-piece rock band that features KSHE-95 personality Lauren Elwell and Tom Rogers of KSDK-TV, will open for Foghat at the Lincoln.