Europe: countdown

In a packed Salle Pleyel, Europe performed an indecent quantity of hits performed with mastery and meticulousness.

40 years is worth celebrating! Reformed for over twenty years, Europe, giant of Swedish hard rock, is determined to pull out all the stops by reviewing his entire career. In front of an audience of more than two thousand fans, Joey Tempest and his band perform all the albums they have released, with the exception of the bluesy Bag of Bones (2012). They also take the opportunity to summarize their career with extracts from their future documentary screened at the start of the concert and after the intermission.

Thus, unstoppable hits like “Rock the Night” or “Superstitious”, without forgetting more recent titles like “Always the Pretenders” and “Hold Your Head Up” are performed with talent, whether it be perfectly executed solos by John Norum or the frontman’s perfectly mastered singing lines. With the exception of a few slowed down tempos, the performance is perfect.

Not content with being generous and talented, the Swedes also allow themselves some well-felt surprises, such as the beautiful acoustic cover of “Space Oddity”, as well as rarities like “Seven Doors Hotel”, “Stormwind” or “Ninja” . Obviously happy to celebrate forty years of career, the musicians ofEurope share their joy with a won over audience, until the apotheosis of the finale, with a “The Final Countdown” as dantic as it is inevitable.

Setlist:

1. On Broken Wings
2. Seven Doors Hotel
3. Rock the Night
4. Start from the Dark
5. Walk the Earth
6. Hold Your Head Up
7. Dreamer
8. War of Kings
9. Vasastan
10. Girl From Lebanon
11. Carrie
12. Stormwind
13. Always the Pretenders
14. Ninja
15. Prisoners in Paradise
16. Sign of the Times
17. Space Oddity
18. Last Look at Eden
19. Open Your Heart
20. Memories
21. More Than Meets the Eye
22. Drum solo
23. Ready or Not
24. Superstitious
25. Cherokee
26. The Final Countdown

Find this live report fromEurope in our weekly n°134, available via our online store.