Reports of Foreigner’s departure have been somewhat exaggerated during the past year and a half.

Back in the fall of 2022, the long-lived band — headed into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this October — announced a Historic Farewell Tour that began last July. Parting has proven to be sweet, however; the group is back on the road this summer, co-headlining with Styx, and has more dates for the fall — including the wrap-up of its residency at the Venetian Resort Las Vegas — and international plans looming in the future.

So, to paraphrase one of the group’s hits, Foreigner may be a long, long way from bringing it home for good — if ever.

“Listen, we’re not disappearing off the face of the Earth,” affirms Kelly Hansen, Foreigner’s frontman since 2005. “There’ll still be some shows here and there. We’re just not gonna tour nine months out of the year anymore. It doesn’t get easier, especially for someone of my years (63).”

Hansen, in fact, went on record when the farewell outing was announced saying that the wear and tear of Foreigner’s notoriously high-pitched and high-octane songs was becoming more demanding, and that he had a desire to have “more time for doing other things in my life that I’m passionate about,” including family, cooking and working on cars and motorcycles.

“When we started out on the first year of (farewell shows),” Hansen says, “I was recognizing that, ‘Oh, this is the beginning of the long goodbye here.’ I was initially a little emotional, and then it kind of wore off as we got into touring and it feels really great, like it always has.”

The farewell idea also has the buy-in of Mick Jones, who founded Foreigner in 1976 but has been absent from the band’s shows in recent years due to Parkinson’s disease but remains the group’s guiding force.

“It’s expected that all good things must come to an end,” Jones, 79, says via email. “When Foreigner does retire, it’s because the guys in the band have given so much of themselves and have reached a time in their lives they want to have an easier life and spend more time with their families. There are so many demands being in a successful rock band.”

Also expressing understanding is Styx’s Tommy Shaw, a Foreigner fan himself since that band’s debut.

“Y’know, I’m one of the singers (in Styx); there are good vocalists in our band who can take the leads,” Shaw explains. “Kelly’s THE guy in their band, and there’s a lot of high vocals in those (songs) that aren’t easy to do.

“So that’s a decision they have to make, but, y’know, I never say never. They can say it’s the end; a lot of people do, and then a lot of people are right back there a year and a half later. I just hope they do what’s right for them and everybody’s happy.”

Foreigner, and its fans, can certainly be happy with the band’s lot during the past 48 years. The group has released nine studio albums since 1977 — seven of them platinum or better — and sold more than 80 million records worldwide. It’s also been a bona fide “Juke Box Hero” with 14 Top 20 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including “Feels Like the First Time,” “Cold As Ice,” “Urgent” and “I Want to Know What Love Is.”

Jones and original frontman Lou Gramm were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2023, and the impending Rock Hall induction — Foreigner finished third in fan voting — is the proverbial icing on the cake, albeit one that the group has been waiting for a long time. As Paul McCartney said in a “campaign” video coordinated by hit-making producer Mark Ronson, Jones’ son-in-law: “Foreigner? Not in the Hall of Fame? What the f***?!”

“Every year was the same thing, so eventually I didn’t really worry about it,” Jones says. “I certainly haven’t been overly consumed by it. But it’s a great honor to be included amongst all these great artists that have been inducted over the years. … I’ve had a great career and this is like the whipped cream and cherry on top.”

Original Foreigner frontman Lou Gramm — who’s touring as part of Bret Michaels’ Parti-Gras 2.0 tour this summer (Aug. 23 at the Pine Knob Music Theatre) — adds that he “had given up that we would ever be considered” and “didn’t even think about it anymore,” either. “I was not feeling good that our peers were in years ago and we were completely neglected, so (the nomination) was a big surprise to me.”

Hansen says while there are no original members left in Foreigner, the current lineup is also basking in the glow of the Rock Hall honor.

“I think that the original guys in this band really deserve this recognition,” he says. “In so many ways, they didn’t get recognition back in the day. They made a musical mark, so to be recognized for the music is a really great thing.” The induction ceremony is still being coordinated, but Hansen says that he’s “here to humbly assist in any way I can.”

And he can be assured that the current lineup’s role in keeping Foreigner alive in the years since Hansen and bassist Jeff Pilson have been part of things will be acknowledged in October.

“That whole band is just tremendous,” says original keyboardist Al Greenwood, who occasionally guests with Foreigner, along with Rick Wills, bassist from 1979-91. “I don’t think there’s a better performer out there, live, today, than Kelly. They’re a great bunch of guys, great musicians. I’m just so glad they’re carrying on the torch for Foreigner.”

While the band is still burning down the road, there also may be some new music to go with it. Gramm says Jones is in possession of demos for “a whole album’s worth of songs … some of our very best songs” that the pair wrote during the early 2000s, and Jones says he’s also been writing with Marti Frederiksen for both Foreigner and for a solo album, “Shelter From the Storm,” that he hopes to release in the near future.

“There are so many hits … but I’m sure fans would love to hear some new Foreigner music,” Hansen says. “As always, there’s unfinished stuff in the pipeline. Maybe when we’re not on the road all the time we’ll have time to finish up some of those things. There’s definitely some good stuff that’s not finished yet, so time will tell.”

Foreigner, Styx and John Waite perform at 6:45 p.m. Saturday, June 15 at Pine Knob Music Theatre, 33 Bob Seger Drive, Independence Township. 313-471-7000 or 313Presents.com.