Hot on the heels of their latest album, Come The Madness, Europe are in Wolverhampton to kick off their UK tour with a packed house at the Civic Hall. Tagging along are opening band The Damn Truth and contemporary stalwarts Gun as special guests.

To the strains of Jefferson Airplane’s ‘White Rabbit’ The Damn Truth take to the stage and continue to mime to it for the duration, which gives plenty of time to take in their stage attire; guitarist dressed in vivid red suit and boots, bass player in striped trousers, flowery shirt and mismatched shoes and singer in a very 60’s style skirt and frilly lace top. If all this suggested you were in for a set of psychedelia, you’d be very much misktaken. ‘Be Somebody’ is big, bold tradional rocker and ‘Love Outta Luck’ brings a much more modern rock edge. While ‘The Willow’ may begin with a more mellow flower power start it quickly evolves into something much more proggier and gives the opportunity to experience Lee-la Baum’s incredible voice at its best. ‘This Is Who We Are Now’ will be familiar to Planet Rock listeners. They deliver with an energy and conviction that’s sure to have won over more fans tonight.

You can always depend on Gun to put on a good show and tonight they don’t disappoint. Over the duration of their 50 minute set they effortlessly mix in old favourites ‘Shame On You’, Better Days’ and ‘Word Up!’ with a large chunk of songs from their latest 2024 offering, Hombres. They warm up the crowd suitably and convince that a full set will be worth catching next time they’re back in this neck of the woods.

Europe are here for a dual purpose tonight, promoting the new album and celebrating the  40th anniversary of the album that undisputedly propelled them into the big league; The Final Countdown. They open with a new song, ‘Scandinavian Eyes’; a Purplesque riff melding with the grandiose style to which they’re accustomed, somehow feeling fresh and comfortingly familiar at the same time. ‘Walk The Earth’ and the massive ‘Superstitious’  and clearly time has been kind to Joey Tempest who remains slim and athletic with a full head of hair as he dances across the stage, twirling his mic stand seemingly never having left the 80’s. More importantly, his vocals still sound outstanding with power and clarity. Next up John Leven’s heavy bass riff serves as an introduction the next new song in the set; ‘One On One’.

The best of their recent past is covered with ‘Last Look At Eden’ and ‘War Of Kings’ with both offering up some exeptional lead guitar from John Norum. ‘Prisoners In Paradise’ takes us back a little further and is stripped back to just Tempest and Mic Michaeli on keys for the first couple of verses, the warmth of the vocals filling the Civic as phones are held aloft where lighters would once have been the standard. ‘Cult of Ignorance’ is the final offering from Come The Madness and its another belter with a big sing-a-long chorus. Why ‘On Broken Wings’ never made it onto The Final Countdown album remains a mystery, but maybe its strong Purple/UFO influences didn’t quite sit right with the rest of the album. Tonight it sounds terrific and leads into what is a run through of the entire Countdown album pretty much in its original running order. ‘Rock The Night’ and ‘Carrie’ remain timeless classics while ‘Danger On The Track’ has the peculiar involvement of the whole crew who come on the stage to meddle with setlists, the drum kit and even sweeping up around Norum. It’s great fun and emphasises that they’re not taking themselves too seriously.

‘Cherokee’ sounds massive and while some of the other songs may not have aged as well, it’s good to hear them in their context. Of course, after clsoing the set with ‘Lovechaser’ there can only be one conclusion with the encore. ‘The Final Countdown’ could easily have been stone to drag them down, but they seem delighted to play it everytime you see them and when they recieve such a positive reaction time and again its easy to see why its never a chore and a suitably bombastic ending to a truly terrific evening.

Setlist:

Scandinavian Eyes
Walk the Earth
Superstitious
One on One
Last Look at Eden
War of Kings
Prisoners in Paradise
The Cult of Ignorance
On Broken Wings
Rock the Night
Carrie
Danger on the Track
Ninja
Cherokee
Time Has Come
Heart of Stone
On the Loose
Love Chaser
The Final Countdown