Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Europe
Label: Ear Music Records
Release: 2013
Running time: 115:40
Rating: 4/5
Yet another live document from a band that shook up the top of the charts in the eighties, and into the early nineties too. We’re talking about a classic hard rock outfit. A Swedish hard rock outfit, whose hit The Final Countdown pretty much every baby sings in the cradle. A tune that defined generations. The wide, »generation-gap« range of people turning up to Europe shows, with the band defying the odds and staying on the scene for over 30 years, is surely proof of the extraordinary popularity they’ve built and wisely keep up well into their mature years.
The idea of recording an album on home turf couldn’t have been more fitting. Especially for the thirtieth anniversary of the first studio album (the name change from Force to Europe falls almost exactly in the same period). And when it happens at one of the most important festivals in the world, Sweden Rock Festival in Solvesborg, in front of a fired-up home crowd that carries you through the whole set on a giant wave of enthusiasm, there’s no better moment to mark a milestone with a spectacular show. Europe, who have been back since 2000 in the lineup that recorded the commercially groundbreaking »The Final Countdown,« have a huge pool of material to pull songs from for their live repertoire as they please. A whopping 28 tracks found a place on this release. And they come from all nine of the band’s studio albums.
Sweden Rock Festival is devoted to the tradition of rock culture, with bands that are either tied to the very development of rock music (the so-called giants of rock) in the leading roles. On the other hand, it’s also special because it gives a stage to the kind of bands you can otherwise almost never see live. So last year Europe got lucky: Black Star Riders and MSG ended up on the lineup too. Since Thin Lizzy and UFO are well-known role models for Europe, the band invited former Thin Lizzy guitarist Scott Gorham (Black Star Riders) onto the stage for the Thin Lizzy song Jailbreak, and the man who wrote most of UFO’s ultimate guitar riffs – the brilliant Michael Schenker (MSG) – for a take on the UFO song Lights Out. Both numbers are of course first-rate attractions that happened for the first time in the band’s story and quite likely never again. Despite a full 28 songs, it was precisely the band’s decision to do two covers with eminent guests that got some favorites bumped from the setlist, ones that should be part of every Europe set, like: Cherokee, Love Chaser and/or at the very least More Than Meets The Eye. Anyway, the other must-have standards and evergreens are hardly missing, and the current studio album »Bag Of Bones« (2012) is solidly represented, while Europe didn’t take a »detour« around the other three albums of the new millennium either – »Last Look At Eden«, »Start From The Dark« and »Secret Society«. And it’s interesting to follow how the sound of the guitar riffs adapts to the songs chosen. John Norum changes the »fatness« of the tone for each riff. For the newer songs from »Last Look At Eden«, »Secret Society« and »Start From The Dark« (but not for the retro blues hard rock-sounding »Bag Of Bones«) it’s deliberately »messy«, let’s say Norum wants to underline Europe’s sonic and stylistic rebirth in the new era. Above all that, though, sits the guitarist’s perfectionism, which dictates carrying the authentic studio sound of the album onto the stage as well. The classic hits naturally sound old-school, even heavier, and in their sound they predictably look back toward replicating the bands that pioneered the fusion of the chunky sound of Hammond organs with the raw energy of a guitar riff, like Rainbow and Deep Purple. Joey Tempest remains one of the most charismatic stage frontmen in hard rock history. He nailed every track with flying colors. Although his voice has dropped over the years, luckily it has gotten substantially »thicker.« The same goes for the band’s stage sound itself, shaped on this document by the venerable talents of musicians united under one roof, this excellent and widely respected quintet. Examples of John Norum’s noticeable »sonic leaps« are most obvious, say, between the performances of the classic Prisoners in Paradise and the newer Always the Pretenders, then between Start From the Dark and Wings Of Tomorrow, as well as between Last Look At Eden and The Final Countdown. You just have to accept it. This »sonic duality« between songs also works very well on this document! So everything clicks, just as it should!
Every Europe fan already has this live document at home, but above all it’s an outstanding tribute to those music lovers who found themselves in front of the stage at Sweden Rock Festival that magical evening and witnessed an unforgettable and unique spectacle from Europe. A document of the kind only the greatest hard rock sages forge together! Europe are among them, and their place of honor and their name are carved in gold letters among the most important hard rock acts of our time.
Lineup
Joey Tempest – vocals
John Norum – guitar
Mic Michaeli – keyboards, backing vocals
John Leven – bass guitar
Ian Haugland – drums, backing vocals
Tracklist
CD1.:
1. Riches To Rags
2. Firebox
3. Not Supposed To Sing The Blues
4. Scream Of Anger
5. Superstitious
6. No Stone Unturned
7. New Love In Town
8. In The Future To Come
9. Paradize Bay
10. Girl From Lebanon
11. Prisoners In Paradise
12. Always The Pretenders
13. Drink And A Smile
14. Open Your Heart
15. Love Is Not The Enemy
16. Sign Of The Times
CD2.:
1. Start From The Dark
2. Wings Of Tomorrow
3. Carrie
4. Jailbreak (feat. Scott Gorham)
5. Seven Doors Hotel
6. Drum Solo
7. The Beast
8. Let The Good Times Rock
9. Lights Out (feat. Michael Schenker)
10. Rock The Night
11. Last Look At Eden
12. The Final Countdown
