Europe

Once upon a time in the Eighties, five Swedish attractive young boys came up with a tune no one could resist: ‘The Final Countdown’. Their good looks with the addition of sweet ballad ‘Carrie’ got them the girls. But was their talent and prolific catalogue which earned them a fan base of mixed gender and age, who has followed them to these days. Tonight, in fact, Shepherds Bush Empire is once again sold out for Europe.

This tour promotes latest full length effort ‘Bag of Bones’ – not that it needs any promotion, as you can tell from the audience reaction to the first three tracks ‘Riches to Rags’, ‘Not Supposed to Sing the Blues’ and ‘Firebox’, faithfully reproducing the first part of the album. The boys have blossomed into men, and like good wine they got even better with age. An untameable, eternally smiling Joey Tempest dominates the stage effortlessly, with a flawless performance from the whole band.

Europe leave ‘No Stone Unturned’, offering their fans a fine selection of hits and surprises; from ‘Superstitious’ to ‘Girl from Lebanon’, the Swedes prove once again they’re no one trick pony, although that one trick always seems to work... 3, 2, 1: It’s ‘The Final Countdown’ and the auditorium explodes to the familiar haunting riff. Sing-along and fists in the hair salute a band which, for a change, is not banking on nostalgia despite having an anthem in their back catalogue.
They sure Rocked the Night and left us counting for the next one. Well done.