Artist:  Europe

Venue: Carling Academy, Newcastle 

Date:  10 February 2007 

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.

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.

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.

Setlist:  Love Is Not The Enemy, Always The Pretenders, Superstitious, Seven Door Hotel, Let The Children Play, The Getaway Plan, Flames, Sigh Of The Times, Dreamer (Snip It), Carrie, Forever Travelling, Norum Guitar Solo, Girl From Lebanon, Start From The Dark, Yesterdays News, Rock The Night.  Encore:  Got To Have Faith, Cherokee, The Final Countdown

 

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