Europe - Hammersmith Apollo - 15/11/04 - Review

Event Articles and Reviews
Post Reply
User avatar
ukevents
Forum Member
Forum Member
Posts: 438
Joined: Tue Mar 20, 2018 6:53 pm

Europe - Hammersmith Apollo - 15/11/04 - Review

Post by ukevents »

EUROPE
HAMMERSMITH APOLLO
15TH NOV 2004

It’s taken me eighteen years to see Europe. Finally tonight it’s going to happen. Destination: The Apollo in Hammersmith. ETA: 7pm.
Anticipation is high, as is the average age of the audience members, but I suppose that was to be expected. There is a support band called Hurricane Party but I can’t decide whether they want to be Guns N Roses or The Black Crowes. Also people who still have their hair in 80’s rock perms are not normal and of course this puts me right off the band. Although they’ll probably be the big thing of 2005 or something like that, but they just don’t do anything for me.
Europe are of course playing only a handful of shows to promote their new album “Start From The Dark�, which by the way is an amazing album and I highly recommend it. This being their only UK date, so I’m expecting a set full of the new album, but also loads of their classic rock tunes.
Then finally the lights dim and the Swedish rock Gods are upon us. Starting up with the stunning new track “Got To Have Faith� and a lights display to rival none, including some nice exploding fireworks. This is what rock is all about!
Fronted by the now legendary Joey Tempest and reuniting with members John Norum, John Leven, Ian Haughland and Mic Michaeli the band run through an amazing set featuring songs like “Let The Good Times Rock�, “Superstitious�, “Yesterday’s News�, “Seven Doors Hotel�, “Wings Of Tomorrow� from their classic albums. Mixed in with new tracks like “Hero�, “Wake Up Call�, “America� and “Flames�. The energy of the band is still there, Tempest ensuring the now sweaty crowd are in a frenzy, Norum performing rock guitar solos that would make the Hawkins brothers from The Darkness look on with open mouthed amazement and Michaeli making Rick Wakeman look like a novice. They may have aged, but the passion is still there and the live energy. Finishing the opening set with “Rock The Night� it meant that they’d bowed down to the cheese factor and hadn’t played their huge hit before the encore. But could they really play it last, would they resort to that?
The encore begins with the title track from the new album “Start The Dark� and is followed by “Cherokee�. So this is it, their final song and they’d really resorted to leaving it to the end. The keyboard kicks in, the guitar, bass and drums all follow suit and Tempest begins “We’re leaving together….�. The Final Countdown was upon us and as expected the audience are going crazy. But this is their rock moment, the reason people know the band. It may not be their greatest song and it’s probably more famous than the band themselves but damn it rocks and so is the Apollo.
Europe are one of the finest live bands I’ve seen and I thoroughly recommend people head out and buy all their albums, not just the new one. This was one awesome show and the best news for anyone out there who reads this is that the whole thing was filmed for a future release on DVD, so you too can enjoy the rock!

Mr. T
Join our events forum. Register for free today
Post Reply

Return to “Event Articles and Reviews”