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This has got to
be one of the most anticipated gigs of the entire year for me and although
the year is just in its infancy, this goes a long way. It's been
many a long year since Joey Tempest and the rest of the boys visited these
shores for a full headline tour and with the venue nearly at capacity,
it's clear they still have the same pulling power they possessed in their
80's heyday.
The band will
only be known to some by their now infamous hit 'The Final Countdown', but
tonight they are about to convert those unfamiliar with their back
catalogue and show that they really can rock and rock hard they did!
The band have
done away with a support act for this tour and as such have been able to
give a greater length set, one that not only highlights the bands past
honours, but also brings to light songs off their excellent new album
‘Secret Society’.
It was actually
with a track taken from the new album that the band got the ball rolling,
as they just ripped into ‘Love Is Not The Enemy’. Instantly the
bands intention to rock the joint was made plain as they kept the heavier
side of things going with ‘Always The Pretenders’, also from the new
album, which saw Tempest take up the guitar to give the already incredible
sound extra bite.
The first thing
that caught my attention was the clarity of the sound and the sheer power
of Tempest’s vocals, together with the ease of which John Norum powered
out some fantastic mind blowing riffs.
Even when the
band started off the first of their classic songs with ‘Superstitious’,
taken from the bands 1988 opus 'Out of This World', the band had revamped
that 80's sound and totally rocked it. This hard rock sound was
carried on with ‘Seven Door Hotel’, a track taken from the bands debut
release and one which sounded superb even after all these years.
It was back to
the new album for one of Joey’s favourite tracks, the riff laden ‘Let The
Children Play’. The band really turned things up a notch or two with
one of my favourite tracks off the new album the magnificently heavy ‘The
Getaway Plan’.
Bass player John
Leven gave us a brief solo intro as the set delved back into the bands
back catalogue for ‘Flames’, from the bands 2004 reunion album ‘Start From
The Dark’. Yet another piece of hard rock magic. The band
remained with their earlier material as Mic Michaeli’s short keyboard
intro led the way into the dark ‘Sign of the Times’.
Then it was time
to really slow things down as Tempest and Michaeli were left on stage for
a short acoustic set. Opening up with a snip it of ‘Dreamer’ before
launching into a magnificent version of ‘Carrie’, which found the crowd
eagerly joining in to sing along with Tempest.
After this short
acoustic interlude it was back to 'Secret Society' for another fantastic
track from this fabulous album, the haunting ‘Forever Travelling’.
Now it was time
for Norum to show what he can really do as he stormed his way through his
guitar solo, joined briefly by Leven, Michaeli and Haugland for a little
Swedish blues midway through the solo.
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The full band
returned to the stage and came out rocking Beirut style, all guns blazing
for ‘Girl From Lebanon’, before returning to the 'Start From The Dark'
album for the title track ‘Start From The Dark’, another really great hard
rock song.
The set
continued with ‘Yesterday's News’, a track that you won't find on any
studio album. This track was originally meant for the bands
'Prisoners In Paradise' album but never made it to the final cut, although
it does appear on the 'Half Way To Heaven' EP and has become somewhat of a
cult classic among the bands diehard fans, which tonight saw a duel of
vocals and guitars between Tempest and Norum with only one winner the
crowd, as both gave as good as they got.
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The band
finished off the set with another classic ‘Rock The Night’ before leaving
the stage for a few minutes. Returning once more to the deafening
screams of the crowded room to really lift the roof off the venue with
another piece of hard rock heaven ‘Got To Have Faith’, before finally
putting the icing on the cake with the classic ‘Cherokee’. Which
unified the crowd as one voice as they sang along with Tempest.
Although the real room shaker of the night had to be ‘The Final
Countdown’, the band's most recognisable track to many and the one that
really thrust the band into the public domain. A song that has never
sounded better than it did tonight as it had a much heavier edge in line
with the rest of the evening.
This rounded off a great show and one
that I would recommend as one of my shows of the year so far. A show
that won over many of the bands fans who haven’t yet purchased the new
album and one that I'd expect to result in huge increases of sales of
'Secret Society' throughout the rock population of the North East after
tonight performance. Let's hope it's not too long before they return
to these shores for more of the same high octane rock n' roll. |
