Review of Europe at the Palladium by Dawn Osborne

When I interviewed Joey Tempest about their Time Capsule tour they were yet to fix the set list, but he promised a special night with the band, with no support, two sets with an interval and, given the 40^thanniversary of the band’s first recordings, a look back at the whole of their career with material they don’t usually play. The band did not disappoint and the sheer excitement of the fans on the first row helped to raise the energy for the evening before the band even hit the stage. This is the second night at the Palladium and the final night of the tour, but many of the front row were here yesterday and are eagerly back for more.

The first surprise of the evening was a video detailing the early days of the band as ‘Force’ and the meeting where Joey Tempest got the rest of the band drunk before breaking to them his idea for the new name of the band. Clearly at first they were not drunk enough. John Leven’s comic timing on detailing his first reaction “But Europe is a CONTINENT!” was hilarious – who knew he was the funniest guy in the band? Happily Joey finally got them drunk enough, and ‘Europe’ it was! Joey also got masses of cool points by allowing them to show the footage of his first appearance with the band with a keyboard that malfunctioned, the sheer fright of the teenager’s face when it began to screech violently was recorded, all too clearly I am sure for his liking, but it was great entertainment. Of course the band are all seasoned professionals now with skilled road crew that have been with them for decades and there were no such mishaps this evening. It was a slick and polished performance, masterful and accomplished while still being the Rockstars we love.

The sets were full of surprises and was not the usual Europe set (brilliant though that is). In the first set ‘Rock The Night’ and ‘Carrie’ with a huge singalong were the only biggies. New single ‘Hold Your Head Up’ also made an early appearance and went down like a banger. It’s a risk to diversify the set list and Joey acknowledges this by saying “If we don’t play your favourite, it’s not my fault, it’s these guys”, but he needn’t have worried, he is preaching to die hards and the converted and they are familiar with the whole of the band’s back catalogue, taking the unusual tracks in their stride. Joey, particularly, was lovin’ that they knew all the words. He is lean and trim and tossing his microphone and catching it as if he was still a whippersnapper, throwing his mike stand around like it is made of air. No slowing down here.

This is not just a Joey-fest though, each band member gets their own slot to talk or play to the audience first being John Norum who chooses to let his playing do the talking alternating from atmospheric intro, to effects like thunderclaps, loads of whammy, passages to rival Classical music and finishing with power chords lending class and grandeur to proceedings. Mic Micaeli starts off with comedy doing some Bach-like cinematic sounding chords every time he mentioned ‘Time Capsule’ which he did several times before introducing ‘Carrie’ as the first song he wrote with Joey.

The first set ended with the massive epic ‘Stormwind’ with the band on the drum riser and a spectacle which is like a finale in itself. Having twirled his mike stand sufficient to make Coverdale proud and sweats being broken, necessitating a towel, the band took the glory before retiring from the first set.

After the interval, following favourite ‘Sign of The Times’ John Norum and Joey sat at the front of the stage to do an acoustic version of Bowie’s ‘Space Odyssey’ something I know all the words to, from when I used to play that Bowie album on repeat as a kid. It was an inspired choice and really helped to mark the evening out as an atypical fun set to celebrate the band and the music they like, as well as their own.

In John Leven’s solo turn he does not fail to thank the fans for a wonderful 40 years, as all the band do repeatedly. After a joke reference to ‘Sit On My Face and Tell Me That You Love Me’, Ian Haugland delivers the liveliest of drum solos accompanying the ‘William Tell Overture’, an energetic romp which heightens energy rather than being the moment everyone goes to the loo (maybe an apt moment to mention that the band talked in their video about John Norum being in the band ‘WC’ when Joey as a scrawny kid with “no social graces” (a quote from Joey himself) asked to borrow a keyboard – I must say that got me thinking – did John spike that keyboard to get it to misbehave on stage for Joey as a prank? – a question for a future interview with him methinks). At the end of ‘Ready Or Not’ Joey pretends to throw his guitar in the audience, but it is only a tease.

The final track of the first set was ‘Superstitious’ weaved around ‘Here I Go Again’ as a tribute to the mighty DC with accompanying mike twirling. We are into the Home Strait and I am delighted that they choose my favourite song ‘Cherokee’ before ‘The Final Countdown’ as the encore. The usually sedate John Norum starts to pogo, Joey holds the mike out to the crowd who could carry the song on their own, and the evening ends on a high. Who has ever heard ‘The Final Countdown’ and not cracked a smile while singing all the words? It’s impossible not to .. and for that reason it must always be the encore. It’s a guaranteed stonker and is the only track to end an evening dedicated to the whole history of the band. I thoroughly enjoyed tonight.  As the band were leaving they said “We will have to do this again”. I do not disagree. Please announce the dates soon as you can!!

Dawn Osborne