Many consider EUROPE a one-song band — and indeed, in 1986 this band released one of the greatest hits in the entire history of rock music. What is so magical about that song is hard to say, but one way or another, "The Final Countdown" is beloved by tens of millions of people, 90% of whom are quite remote from heavy music. There is something fantastically life-affirming in that composition. Dozens of cover versions have been made of it — alongside power and death metal renditions you can find techno versions, industrial takes, and so on.
EUROPE never played AOR, pop rock, or anything of that sort — they were always a hard rock band. It is simply that melodic hard rock is not a particularly heavy sound by its nature. Today Sweden is for us above all the home of several dozen excellent death metal bands, the studios of Dan Swanö and Peter Tägtgren, several black metal projects, several more bands that once played doom (some still trying to do so today), and a handful of power metal bands — among which, through some historical injustice, the most famous is not the most talented or interesting (HAMMERFALL). But never mind. EUROPE emerged in 1978, when most of today's heroes of the heavy scene were either toddlers or starting their first year of school.
The band ceased activity at the very moment interest in such music subsided — when America was seized by the grunge epidemic and Europe's top bands were changing lineups, as metal in general stepped down from the level of music for millions. That same period gave us a true storm in death, black, and doom metal — the underground was flourishing in those years, not least in Sweden. That was the golden era of TIAMAT, KATATONIA, DISMEMBER, HYPOCRISY, IN FLAMES, and countless other bands. What the second half of the 1990s brought is all too well known: melodic death, new-wave power metal, former doom bands that shifted toward post-rock, festivals drawing tens of thousands, experimental works like the THERION albums, the search for new sounds, millions of dollars in the world of heavy music, and finally the historic reunions — in the five-year period 1999–2004, an enormous number of bands reunited in their original lineups, while an equally large number returned to studio and concert activity after years of absence: IRON MAIDEN, JUDAS PRIEST, SLAYER, DESTRUCTION, TESTAMENT, OBITUARY, CANDLEMASS... At the end of 2003, EUROPE resumed their concert activity. New albums followed in 2004 and 2006. The lightness and euphoria of melodic hard rock had disappeared. The band members, all long past forty, now play dark but sufficiently melodic hard rock — nothing commercial in the sound, music aimed at connoisseurs of the unconventional and innovative in heavy music.
In 2005 the band had already visited russia — that time they played the Kremlin; 5,000 was not quite achieved, but there was an audience nonetheless. The venue was of course entirely unsuitable, but the calculation was evidently made for those who knew exactly one song by the performing collective. Your humble servant was not at that concert, but the situation is well documented and widely described: after an absolutely inadequate press conference in which journalists displayed their ignorance at every opportunity, the concert followed — from which several dozen people fled after the first few songs, having come without any intention of listening to heavy metal of quite dense and heavy sound.
Two years had passed since then; another album had come out; and now it became known that the Swedes would return to russia for a festival appearance in st. petersburg and a solo concert in moscow. This time a smaller venue was chosen: the KKZ Mir, near the Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard, seats 800–900 people and offers no standing area. Well then — let us speak in more detail of the Swedes' ninety-minute performance.
In total around 500 people filled the hall. The audience was rather mixed — the majority still consisted of people who by no stretch of the imagination were fans of heavy rock; judging by the reaction of this portion, they were hearing the band's songs for the first time, and many were limited to knowing hit number one, unaware of hit number two ("Carrie"). Well, never mind. AC/DC played through the speakers for most of the wait. The security positioned themselves before the stage, the lights went down, the intro began — and already at that moment, a couple of dozen people emerged along both aisles between the rows, deciding they wanted to feel as if they were at a rock concert. No one fled after the first song, though many grimaced; a few songs in the hall was indeed departed by several individuals, while several dozen others sat with their ears covered. The main emphasis was placed on the most recent album; from all other albums only one or two songs were played, while the excellent full-length Wings of Tomorrow received no attention whatsoever — wholly undeservedly.
The band played with considerable heaviness. No polished sound — hard guitar riffs, dark and at times threatening music. Now about the musicians. Naturally the main focus was the vocalist Joey Tempest, so more on him shortly. Perpendicular to the audience stood three synthesizers, so all keyboard parts could be not only heard but also observed very clearly. The bassist and the guitarist were simply tremendous rock-and-rollers — what they were doing had to be seen; each of them, incidentally, got a solo spot — first bassist John, then keyboardist Mic, and a little later the guitarist, who like the bassist is also named John and is, alongside Joey, one of the band's founding members. Now, Mr. Tempest — he was simply spectacular: firstly, this 45-year-old vocalist is in magnificent shape, moving freely across the wide stage — at one point so caught up in it that he nearly fell. Those who have seen the band's videos may recall the microphone stand juggling — all in full force, the stand spinning in his hands for all ninety minutes of the concert. Joey is a brilliant frontman; he responded very positively to those who rose from their seats and let themselves go, and encouraged the rest to do the same throughout.
From the 1986 album, all four main hits were performed. "Rock The Night" was there, "Cherokee" appeared during the encore, and of course "Carrie" could not be absent. Another surprise: Joey came out with an acoustic guitar and performed it... together with the audience, with many joining in. And, of course, the key moment. Personally, I was quite surprised when I realised that there were no pre-recorded backing tracks — the keyboardist would perform everything himself live. The third encore number and the concert's closing moment was, naturally, the one. Before it, the lights went out; the musicians stepped back slightly from the stage edge; and in the darkness the first notes played by Mic heralded the beginning of "The Final Countdown." At that point the entire hall sang along honestly, and virtually no one remained seated. Interesting people, those who came to hear one song and couldn't even be bothered to listen to anything else — but let us return to the hall. The famous song could not fail to bring the house down — an utterly spectacular finale.
The most pleasant impression of all was left by the musicians themselves — entirely free of pomposity, very friendly masters of their craft who made this concert feel somehow unusually warm and sincere.
Report by Alan
Special thanks to Promo End and personally to Ilya Zinin for the accreditation provided
Setlist: Intro Love Is Not The Enemy Always The Pretenders Superstitious Seven Doors Hotel Let The Children Play The Getaway Plan Bass Intro / Flames Keyboard Intro / Sign Of The Times Carrie Secret Society Guitar Intro / Blues / Girl From Lebanon Yesterday's News Rock The Night — encore — Got To Keep Faith Cherokee The Final Countdown