Europe – Relentless Garage, London

New Device have been working hard, and  reaping the rewards, rightfully earning some desirable support slots. Their sound is a blend of sleazy rock n’ roll from the likes of Skid Row and early Guns N’ Roses. As always they work very hard to deliver a tight set which is well appreciated by the crowd.

The lights drop and the crowds excitement starts to overflow. Through the darkness the instrumental strains of ‘Prelude’ slowly builds and John Levén, Mic Michaeli and Ian Haugland quietly take to the stage. A technical hitch briefly delays proceedings, but it’s barely a minute before the theatrics begin again, then John Norum takes to the stage. The crowd needn’t contain themselves any longer, ‘Prelude’ reaches it’s finale and Joey Tempest bounds onto stage.

Europe come out all guns blazing with ‘Last Look At Eden,’ and ‘Gonna Get Ready’, the new material being eagerly received by the sold out Relentless Garage audience. The sound struggles to find balance initially, but is rectified quickly by the crew. Tempest calls on the crowd for their “helping hands” and the venue becomes a sea of arms clapping in unison to ‘Superstitious’. This isn’t their only involvement, later the song breaks down into a short section of ‘No Woman No Cry,’ by Bob Marley, with a call and response between Tempest and the crowd. Europe hark back to their 2006 Secret Society album for ‘Love Is Not The Enemy,’ and the title track ‘Secret Society,’ which are met with a quieter reception. The songs are separated by ‘Sign Of The Times’ which is greeted with palpable excitement by the crowd.

Tempest returns to the stage bearing a white Gibson Les Paul, and promises yet more new material. There is a hushed anticipation before the live debut of ‘No Stone Unturned’ is announced, the crowd bursts into cheers and applause. Throughout, the band play with the crowd, the song goes down very well with the extremely appreciative audience. The pace is slowed further with ‘New Love In Town,’ which sounds absolutely huge tonight. This will provide a great slow singalong for audiences all across Europe on this tour. Throughout the performance Tempest makes play by handing his guitar pick into the crowd, there will only be two picks tonight and the front row is understandably eager to collect a rare souvenir.

‘Scream Of Anger’ brings the pace back up again before Tempest introduces the band finishing on the “true guitar hero”. Norum proceeds to dazzle the crowd with his chops subtly backed by Leven, Michaeli and Haugland. The hypnotic ‘Optimist’ builds to a big finish, and Joey emerges once more, bearing a guitar and ‘Seventh Sign’ snaps the crowd from it’s torpor. At the end of ‘Let the Good Times Rock’ the flow is interrupted once again as drum/mics need changing, handled like a seasoned master by a relaxed Tempest.

‘Start From the Dark’ sets up a low and heavy groove before the set draws to a close with the fantastic ‘Rock the Night’ sending the crowd into a frenzy, and they’re in exceptional singing voice for it. After the big finish the band leave the stage, but the crowd is in no doubt that they’ll be back, chants for their return spread like fire across the floor.

The audience is not waiting long for their hero’s return, but from the surprised expressions around the room not many people expected the cover of the UFO song, ‘Only You Can Rock Me,’ to be on the setlist. The lights drop and an electronic drone fills the air. It’s ‘The Final Countdown’. There are looks of excitement and genuine astonishment throughout the room. The shows finale is big and bombastic and the crowd is sent into rapture.

Tonight we saw some teething problems and a few hiccups all ably handled by the band and their crew. The bands new material went down  well with tonight’s crowd, and as the tour progresses the hiccups will be eliminated and the performance honed further. It promises to be one heck of a tour. 8/10

Setlist:
1. Last Look At Eden
2. Gonna Get Ready
3. Superstitious (including snippet of ‘No Woman No Cry’ by Bob Marley)
4. Love is Not the Enemy
5. Sign of the Times
6. Always The Pretenders
7. No Stone Unturned
8. New Love in Town
9. Scream of Anger
10. Optimist (John Norum instrumental Interlude)
11. Seventh Sign
12. Let the Good Times Rock
13. Start From the Dark
14. Rock the Night

Encore:

15. Only You Can Rock Me (UFO cover)
16. The Final Countdown

Words: Tom Raybould

Photo: ©Christie Goodwin

Tags: Europe, New Device, Relentless Garage