Europe @ Thebarton Theatre, Adelaide 18/5/2018

They were the words that Australian fans have been longing to hear “Thank you for waiting all these years, great to be here…”

It has taken some thirty years but Europe have finally made it to Australia and yes, even little ‘ole Adelaide. Was the wait worth it? Hell yeah! Absence definitely made the heart grow fonder. To those who contemplated and decided not to I think you’ll rue that decision. Europe put on a masterclass in musicianship and how to put on a rock show. Alot of of big rock shows have come through Adelaide but Europe are in a league of their own and musicians starting out in the caper should be watching the live footage on how it’s done by these rock masters.

This tour had a strong leaning towards brand new album Walk The Earth but they did not neglect the back catalogue playing the hits one would expect to hear. The production was top shelf right from the get go with Walk The Earth setting the tone for the rest of the evening. The Siege was next with front man Joey Tempest asking fans “Adelaide, are you ok” before going back to familiar territory with Rock The Night. Joey asked the crowd whether they could scream louder than Perth and Melbourne serving as the intro to Scream In Anger. Danger On The Track was popular as was Sign Of The Times from Out Of This World album.

There wasn’t a lot of banter with the crowd letting the music do all the talking. When Joey Tempest spoke the crowd hung off every last word. Joey asked the question “Do you know these three notes?” Open Your Heart was a great moment in the set with the first set coming to end with Superstitious which had a snippet of No Woman, No Cry. The band retiring backstage for a few “cold ones” and to recharge they returned fired up with a second set.

The second set was brilliant, not saying the first set wasn’t but the band seemed as if they had a point to prove. Ready Or Not got it going and bang, bang, bang they unloaded some absolute rock nuggets with Last Look At Eden, Hole In My Pocket and Seven Doors Hotel which has only recently been added back in the set list. Carrie was a subtle change of pace. The drum solo was impressive and the set finished on some absolute rockers with GTO and Let The Good Times Rock. The band no doubt could have played another two hours with all the songs they could have chosen. Returning for an epic encore of Cherokee and the song that started the journey The Final Countdown was fan-bloody-tastic! Terrific show and let’s hope that a return visit isn’t thirty years away.

Live Review by Rob Lyon